The Small Business Administration (SBA) is making a Disaster Relief Loan available to most small businesses. The SBA will be lending up to $2 Million to businesses at a 3.75% fixed interest rate with a repayment of up to 30 years.
You can apply here.
Access all paper forms here.
Businesses who would like free assistance completing their applications can register by following these steps:
- Visit www.tsbdc.org
- Select “Request Free Advising”
- Select “Local Advising” and Choose Your County
- Complete the Requested Information (it’s an SBA Form 641 for confidential counseling)
- A business counselor will contact you within 48 hours to set an appointment or start the process over the phone and/or via online video conferencing
- “Businesses can only seek assistance for economic injury (not physical damage) as a result of the incident [COVID 19].
- The substantial economic injury occurs when a business concern is unable to meet its obligations as they mature or to pay its ordinary and necessary operating expenses.
- Establishing economic injury is a comparison between the financial information from the period in the prior year to the injury period of the current year – this period must be associated to the [IMPACT OF COVID 19] and cannot be attributed to a downturn in local economy or other unrelated issues.
- For example, if [employees are unable to work; or major conferences canceled from which the business received revenues; or if a restaurant experience a substantial reduction in customers due to social distancing or because local or state officials are asking or ordering businesses to temporarily close or reduce services (e.g., take out only)] and the business [will] not able to be re-established for two months, the business should consider how long it will take for things to normalize.
- If it’s three months, the analysis [for a loan would] show the financial data for the same three months of last year and the anticipated financial data for the same period this year.
- The loans are not intended to replace lost sales or profits, rather they are intended to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable, and other expenses that could have been paid had the [IMPACT OF COVID 19] not occurred.
- Analyzing a drop in sales, the length of time the business will be impacted, the type of business and typical business cycle of the industry, provides the SBA [loan officers] with the requisite data needed to determine if the economic injury is considered substantial.”
If you have additional questions or concerns, call the SBA customer service line at 1-800-659-2955
