Local entrepreneurs impacted by the heavy rain and flood from last April have until next month to apply for a loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration. The deadline to apply is April 6, just a few weeks before a system of storms dumped as much as 10 inches of rain on some areas of Coastal Alabama last year.
The federal agency is providing working capital loans to small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small aquaculture businesses and private nonprofit organizations in Baldwin, Escambia, Geneva and Houston counties, officials said.
Loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable, and other expenses that could have been paid had the disaster not occurred. Working capital disaster loans up to $2 million are available at 2.6 percent interest rate for private nonprofit organizations and 4 percent interest rate for small businesses, with terms lasting up to 30 years.
“These counties are eligible because they are contiguous to one or more primary counties in Florida,” said Frank Skaggs, director of SBA’s field operations center in Atlanta. The Small Business Administration recognizes that disasters do not usually stop at county or state lines. For that reason, counties adjacent to primary counties named in the declaration are included.”
Applicants may apply online using Small Business Administration’s secure website at disasterloan.sba.gov/ela, or by calling 1-800-659-2955 (1-800-877-8339 for the deaf and hard-of-hearing), or by sending an email to disastercustomerservice@sba.gov.
March 14, 2015
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