SBA announces economic injury disaster loans for small businesses in Delaware
The drought that hit the United States earlier this year has led to a great deal of economic tension throughout the counties of Kent, Sussex and New Castle in Delaware. As a result of this, the security of agriculture in Delaware has issued a declaration of disaster in order to help the farmers recover from the damage incurred to their crops. The drought which began on 20th April this year has caused a large amount of damage to crops, small businesses and the aquaculture sector of the economy.
Understanding its role in the economy of the country, Small Business Administration has also made an announcement to give out federal economic injury disaster loan to various sectors of the counties including agricultural cooperatives, private nongovernmental organizations of different sizes and small businesses involved in agriculture. Small businesses and agriculture which make up majority of the living for the people in the region have been affected the most by the drought and these loans can help the victims in reviving back from the losses that they have suffered earlier this spring. The small business administration loan program can help the local businesses and economy during these troubled times.
Loan Amount & Division
The total amount for loan cannot exceed 2 million dollars; you can apply for a smaller amount as well depending on the loss that you have suffered. For nongovernmental organizations, an interest rate of 3 percent will be charged. However, the rate of interest for small businesses has been set a little higher at 4 percent. The terms of the entire loan cannot be longer than 30 years but the exact terms will vary from person to person depending on their financial circumstances as well as the damages they have suffered.
It is very important to note that the loan amount cannot be used to make up for the sales that have been lost; instead the purpose is to cover all the fixed debts, accounts payables, payrolls and other bills that are pending.
Eligibility & Deadline
As already mentioned, the counties of Kent, New Castle and Sussex are the main priority regions for the loan. This is because they are bordering to one or more major counties in Maryland. Small Business Administration realizes that any kind of disaster have wide spread affects which do not stop only at the county level or even the state level. According to the director of Small Business Administration field operation department, SBA has included neighboring counting in the region for the exact same reason. The repercussions of the disaster can only be minimized if the eligibility criterion for the loan is broadened to include as many counties as possible.
The declaration issued by the SBA states that the Economic Injury Disaster Loan is available for all the farm related groups that have suffered any losses. In addition to this, the non- farm entities have also been considered eligible if they have suffered a loss directly from the disaster. Excluding the aquaculture businesses, the SBA is not providing disaster loans to farmers, other agricultural procedures or even ranchers. However, a special clause approves of the eligibility of nurseries that have suffered losses as a result of the drought.
The deadline for the application is till April 2013, but the sooner you apply, the better are the chances of getting the loan amount approved. The entire procedure is online; use the portal of SBA for electronic submission of the application at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela. In case of any questions or quires, the SBA customer service center is available for your guidance. You can email, call or write to SBA to clear all confusions on your mind regarding the loan amount, the eligibility criteria and other related things.
Author Bio:
John Anderson enjoys writing, blogging, business and the law. He has experience working with attorneys who help victims get their charges reduced in DUI cases, and also with attorneys specializing in defending drug related cases.
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