The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced that Economic Injury Disaster Loans are available to small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture and private nonprofit organizations located in Fannin County and other counties in Georgia as a result of the drought that began on October 1.
“When the Secretary of Agriculture issues a disaster declaration to help farmers recover from damages and losses to crops, the Small Business Administration issues a declaration to eligible entities, affected by the same disaster,” SBA Director of Field Operations Center East Kem Fleming said.
SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program is available to eligible farm-related and nonfarm-related entities that suffered financial losses as a direct result of this disaster. With the exception of aquaculture enterprises, SBA cannot provide disaster loans to agricultural producers, farmers and ranchers. Nurseries are eligible to apply for economic injury disaster loans for losses caused by drought conditions.
The loan amount can be up to $2 million with interest rates of 4 percent for small businesses and 2.75 percent for private nonprofit organizations with terms up to 30 years. The SBA determines eligibility based on the size of the applicant, type of activity and its financial resources.
Loan amounts and terms are set by the SBA and are based on each applicant’s financial condition.
Applicants may apply online using the Electronic Loan Application (ELA) via SBA’s secure website at Disasterloan.sba.gov.
Completed applications that are printed should be mailed to: U.S. Small Business Administration, Processing and Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155. Applications should be submitted no later than June 24, 2020.
Disaster loan information and application forms may also be obtained by calling the SBA’s Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955 by sending an email to disastercustomerservice@sba.gov.