Illinois Link Card Users Beware, a Temporary Outage is Coming Next Week

If you have access to Illinois Link Card benefits, you better start planning ahead, because a service outage is coming.

Temporary Outage Coming For Illinois Link Card Users

Before you start panicking, Illinois Link Card services will only be out for 2 days, but if you typically do your shopping on the weekends, this outage may cause a bit of a headache.

According to the Illinois Department of Human Services website, the state will be transitioning the Illinois Link Card to a different system, and the process of doing so will cause an outage starting Saturday, August 20, 2022, at 11 p.m. Services should be back up and running on the new system by 6 p.m. on Sunday, August 21, 2022.

What You Need To Know About the Illinois Link Card Outage

I totally understand that the thought of not being able to buy anything with your Link Card is disturbing, so here are some answers to the questions I'm sure you're asking yourself right now:

• During the outage, you will not be able to make purchases or ATM withdrawals with your Link Card. You will also not be able to access your account information online or by phone.
• All of your benefits will still be available when the transition is finished after 6 p.m. on Sunday, August 21.
• New Link Cards will be sent, but your current card will still be accepted after the transition.
• Once the new website is up, you will need to create a new account.
• A new app will be replacing the current ConnectEBT app, get information on how to access it, here.
• You won't be able to change your PIN beginning Friday, August 19, 2022.

For questions or concerns about next week's outage, call 1-800-678-LINK (5465) or visit the Illinois Link Card website.