Illinois SNAP recipients can expect their benefit payments to be deposited monthly on the Illinois Link EBT Card. Link Cards are issued once applicants are approved for benefits from the Illinois Department of Human Services, which administers the state’s SNAP.

                By                    Josephine Nesbit

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The Illinois Link Card is accepted at most grocery stores, and looks (and works) just like a debit or credit card. Swipe your Link Card at the card reader and enter your PIN to purchase SNAP-eligible food items. To buy anything that doesn’t qualify for SNAP, you’ll need to use a different form of payment.

Illinois has also elected to participate in the Restaurant Meals Program, or RMP, shortly. RMP allows certain SNAP recipients who might not be able to prepare meals for themselves to purchase meals at participating restaurants. Illinois will be rolling out RMP to Dewitt County, Franklin County or Cook County residents with the following zip codes — 60619, 60620, 60628 and 60617 — over a period of time.

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The date on which payments are deposited onto your Link Card depends on the last digit of your case number. 

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If you had a SNAP case that was converted from a legacy case, you will keep your legacy availability date of either the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 13th, 17th or 20th.

Benefits for new cases are deposited between the 1st and 10th of every month. The date you receive benefits depends on the last digit of the head of household’s individual identification number, according to the Illinois Department of Human Services. 

Here is the June deposit schedule for new cases on the Link system:

Regular roll benefits are available by 3:00 a.m. on the same date every month, including holidays and weekends.