The Small Business Administration has made some enhancements to its COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, which is designed to better serve and support small business communities impacted by the pandemic, especially hard-hit sectors such as restaurants, gyms, and hotels.
Key changes include increasing the COVID EIDL cap from $50,000 to $2 million, implementing a deferred payment period of two years after loan origination, establishing a 30-day exclusivity window for approving and disbursing funds for loans of $500,000 or less, expanding the use of funds to include prepay of commercial debt and payments on federal business debt, and simplifying the affiliation requirements.
“The SBA’s COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan program offers a lifeline to millions of small businesses who are still being impacted by the pandemic,” SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman said, in a statement. “We’ve retooled this critical program and ramped up our outreach efforts to ensure we’re connecting with our smallest businesses as well as those from low-income communities who may also be eligible for the companion COVID EIDL Targeted Advance and Supplemental Advance grants totaling up to $15,000. Our mission-driven SBA team has been working around the clock to make the loan review process as user-friendly as possible to ensure every entrepreneur who needs help can get the capital they need to reopen, recover and rebuild.”
Related: Financing at Every Stage of Business; NRA Advocates Congress to Replenish Relief Fund.