WASHINGTON — The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently updated its guidance for the COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program applicants to allow small-business owners to be better served while the funding remains available.
The COVID EIDL program is a federal disaster relief loan designed to help small-business communities affected by the pandemic, especially in hard-hit sectors. The program has approved nearly $300 billion in relief aid. The updated guidance provided includes:
- EIDL loan and Targeted Advance applications will be accepted until Dec. 31 and will continue to be processed after that date until funds are exhausted.
- Supplemental Targeted Advance (STA) applications will be accepted until Dec. 31. The SBA noted, however, that it may be unable to process some STA applications submitted near the deadline due to legal requirements. The SBA cannot continue to process these applications after Dec. 31 and strongly encourages eligible small businesses to apply by Dec. 10 to ensure adequate processing time.
- Borrowers can request increases up to their maximum eligible loan amount for up to two years after their loan origination date, or until the funds are exhausted, whichever happens first.
- The SBA will accept and review reconsideration and appeal requests for COVID EIDL applications received on or before Dec. 31 if the reconsideration/appeal is received within the timeframes in the regulation. This means six months from the date of decline for reconsiderations and 30 days from the date of reconsideration decline for appeals, unless funding is no longer available.
“The COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and EIDL Advance programs still have billions of dollars available to help small businesses hard hit by the pandemic. More than 3.8 million businesses employing more than 20 million people have found financial relief through SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loans,” says Patrick Kelley, associate administrator for SBA’s Office of Capital Access. “Key enhancements have been made to the loan program that will help our nation’s businesses recover and get back on track.”
For more information about the EIDL program, eligibility and application requirements, visit www.sba.gov/eidl. Since the deadline for applications to be received is Dec. 31, the SBA advises interested business owners to file their applications as soon as possible to allow for processing. For additional information on COVID EIDL and other recovery programs, visit www.sba.gov/relief.
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