As of May 6, 2022, the SBA is no longer accepting applications for new COVID EIDL loans or advances and is no longer accepting requests for increases, reconsideration, and appeals.
The SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan program (EIDL) was available in all 50 states as well as U.S. territories, and businesses everywhere were eligible to apply. The EIDL program offered businesses low interest disaster loans up to $2 million to support working capital needs for small businesses that suffered economic injury as a result of COVID-19.
Please note that the SBA EIDL program is administered directly through SBA and not Pursuit. Inquiries and applications are managed by SBA (learn more in the “how to apply” section). Please call 1-800-659-2955 with any EIDL questions.
What is EIDL?
EIDL is a disaster loan program that provides small businesses negatively impacted by COVID-19 with low cost disaster funds. Here are the program basics:
- Amount: Up to $2 million, including affiliate loans. The amount of your loan will be determined by SBA’s assessment of your business’s losses due to the COVID-19 crisis.
- Interest rate: 3.75% fixed
- Term: 30 years
- Other facts: There is no prepayment penalty and there is a one year deferment on the loan (interest will still accrue during this period)
- Use of funds: EIDL loans can ONLY be used to alleviate economic injury as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. You can use the funds to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable and other bills that you would have typically been able to pay had your business not been impacted by COVID-19. The funds from these loans cannot be used to replace lost sales, refinance long-term debt or to expand.
EIDL eligibility
The EIDL program was open to a wide variety of businesses impacted by COVID-19, including hotels, recreational facilities, manufacturers, restaurants, retailers, professional services, health care providers and more.
Loans were available to small businesses (and most nonprofits) that were directly impacted by COVID-19, as well as those that offer services directly related to impacted businesses.
In addition to this requirement, other EIDL eligibility requirements that a business needed to meet to qualify include:
- In general, your business must have suffered economic losses due to COVID-19, and COVID-19 only.
- Your personal credit history must be fair-to-good.
- You must be able to demonstrate and ability to repay the loan.
- Collateral is required for all loans over $25,000. If real estate is available, it must be pledged as collateral. If you truly do not have collateral to pledge, you won’t be declined. However, you are required to pledge what collateral you do have available.
How to apply for an SBA disaster loan & EIDL
While SBA is no longer accepting new applications or requests for an increase in your loan amount, you can still access your loan documents until May 16, 2022.
To view and download your loan documents, you’ll need to log into your COVID EIDL portal.
For assistance, please reach out to the SBA at 1-800-659-2955 or [email protected].
EIDL application tips and advice
- If you’re requesting an increase to your current EIDL loan, be sure to review the SBA disaster loan requirements and application in its entirety and double-check that it’s complete before submitting. The SBA has warned that incomplete applications will not be processed. If you submit an incomplete application, you’ll be alerted but moved to the back of the processing queue.
Application Resources
The following links contain resources that you’ll find helpful:
- How to apply for EIDL: overview of the application portal
- EIDL Fact Sheet: Brief program summary
- EIDL Presentation: In-depth program summary in PowerPoint format
