Maryland businesses and residents affected by severe flooding in Frederick County from May 15-20, 2018 can apply for low-interest disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration, Administrator Linda McMahon announced today.
Administrator McMahon made the loans available in response to a letter from Gov. Larry Hogan on June 8, requesting a disaster declaration by the SBA. The declaration covers Frederick County and the adjacent counties of Carroll, Howard, Montgomery and Washington in Maryland; Adams and Franklin in Pennsylvania; and Loudoun in Virginia.
“The SBA is strongly committed to providing the people of Maryland with the most effective customer-focused response possible to assist businesses of all sizes, homeowners and renters with federal disaster loans,” McMahon said. “Getting businesses and communities up and running after a disaster is our highest priority at SBA.”
SBA’s Customer Service Representatives will be available at the Disaster Loan Outreach Centers to answer questions about the disaster loan program and help individuals complete their applications.
The Public Safety Training Facility at 5370 Public Safety Place, Frederick, MD 21704 will be open through Saturday, June 30.
“Businesses and private nonprofit organizations may borrow up to $2 million to repair or replace disaster damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery and equipment, inventory and other business assets,” SBA’s Maryland District Director Stephen Umberger said.
For small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture and most private nonprofit organizations, the SBA offers Economic Injury Disaster Loans to help meet working capital needs caused by the disaster. Economic Injury Disaster Loan assistance is available regardless of whether the business suffered any physical property damage.
“Loans up to $200,000 are available to homeowners to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate. Homeowners and renters are eligible for loans up to $400,000 to repair or replace damaged or destroyed personal property,” Richard Morgan, acting center director of SBA’s Field Operations Center East in Atlanta said.
Applicants may be eligible for a loan amount increase up to 20 percent of of their physical damages, as verified by SBA for mitigation purposes. Eligible mitigation improvements may include a safe room or storm shelter to help protect property and occupants from future damage caused by similar disaster.
Interest rates are as low as 3.61 percent for businesses, 2.5 percent for nonprofit organizations, and 1.938 percent for homeowners and renters with terms up to 30 years. 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 DisterLoan.sba.gov.
Businesses and individuals may also obtain information and loan applications by calling the SBA’s Customer Service Center at 1-800-659-2955 (1-800-877-8339 for the deaf and hard of hearing), or by emailing disastercustomerservice@sba.gov. Loan applications can also be downloaded at sba.gov. Completed applications should be returned to the center or mailed to: U.S. Small Business Administration, Processing and Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155.
The filing deadline to return applications for physical property damage is Aug. 13, 2018. The deadline to return economic injury applications is March, 14, 2018.