Fraud

• Fraud is one of the biggest problems associated with food stamps. There are two primary forms of fraud: submitting false information on applications and trafficking (buying and selling food stamp benefits for money or unauthorized items). Since paper food stamps are now used by less than 30 percent of the recipients, trafficking is less of an issue than it used to be, but it still happens. If caught, individuals and merchants involved in trafficking are immediately disqualified from the program and face severe consequences such as prosecution.
  
  

Misconceptions

• A common misconception about food stamps is that the people who use them are lazy, uneducated or in some other way less valuable than the rest of society. The shame factor causes some people who are eligible for food stamps to choose not to apply for them because they fear they will be looked down upon if they use food stamps.
  
  

Difficult Paperwork

• Many individuals and families that qualify for food stamps choose not to take advantage of them or else stop receiving them in part due to the difficult and demanding paperwork that is required to enroll and then to remain enrolled in the program. The average food stamp application is 12 pages long, with the application in some states being as much as 18 pages long. Ongoing paperwork must be completed in order to continue receiving food stamps.
  
  

Employer Involvement

• Food stamp applicants may need to involve their employer in order to verify income. This puts the employee in an awkward and embarrassing position because he may not want his employer and co-workers to know he is on food stamps. There may also be a problem if the employer doesn't cooperate with the request to provide information.
  
  

Ineligibility

• Although food stamp eligibility is based to a large degree on income, those with low or even no income (such as during unemployment) do not automatically qualify for food stamps. For example, a person is ineligible if "countable resources" are more than $2,000. Countable resources include money in checking and savings accounts and tangible goods such as automobiles. Therefore, an unemployed person with a car that is valued at $4,000 may not qualify for food stamps.