SBA offers disaster assistance to New Yorkers affected by August floods – Troy Record

WASHINGTON, D.C. New York businesses and residents affected by severe storms and flooding on Aug. 24, 2020, can apply for low-interest disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration, Administrator Jovita Carranza announced Wednesday.

Administrator Carranza made the loans available in response to a letter from Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Nov. 4, requesting a disaster declaration by the SBA.

The declaration covers Washington County and the adjacent counties of Essex, Rensselaer, Saratoga and Warren in New York; and the counties of Addison, Bennington and Rutland in Vermont.

The SBA is strongly committed to providing the people of New York with the most effective and customer-focused response possible to assist businesses of all sizes, homeowners, and renters with federal disaster loans, Carranza remarked.

Getting businesses and communities up and running after a disaster is our highest priority at SBA," Carranza noted.

In accordance with health precautions for COVID-19, the SBA will not establish a field presence to assist survivors. Yet, the SBA will continue to provide customer service and conduct outreach virtually with webinars, Skype calls, phone assistance and step-by-step application assistance.

The SBA has opened a Virtual Disaster Loan Outreach Center to help survivors apply online using the Electronic Loan Application via the SBAs secure website at DisasterLoan.sba.gov.

Virtual customer support representatives are available to help applicants complete the online application during these hours:

Virtual Disaster Loan Outreach Center (VDLOC)

Open: Daily

Hours: 8 a.m. 8 p.m. ET

Email: FOCE-Help@sba.gov

Phone: (800) 659-2955

These services are only available for the New York disaster declaration #16772 as a result of severe storms and flooding on Aug. 24, 2020, and not for COVID-19 related assistance.

Survivors should contact the SBAs Disaster Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955 for assistance in completing their loan applications. Requests for SBA disaster loan program information may be obtained by emailing FOCE-Help@sba.gov.

The SBA will conduct extensive outreach to ensure that those affected by the disaster have an opportunity to apply for assistance.

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, SBAs Syracuse District Director Bernard Paprocki explained.

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 $40,000 to repair or replace damaged or destroyed personal property, Michael Lampton, acting center director of SBAs Field Operations Center East in Atlanta said.

Applicants may be eligible for a loan amount increase up to 20% of their physical damages, as verified by the SBA for mitigation purposes. Eligible mitigation improvements may include a safe room or storm shelter, sump pump, French drain or retaining wall to help protect property and occupants from future damage caused by a similar disaster.

Interest rates are as low as 3% for businesses, 2.75% for nonprofit organizations, and 1.188% for homeowners and renters with terms up to 30 years. Loan amount and terms are set by the SBA and are based on each applicants financial condition.

Applicants may apply online using the Electronic Loan Application (ELA) via SBAs secure website at DisasterLoan.sba.gov and should apply under SBA declaration #16772, not for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Disaster loan information and application forms may also be obtained by calling the SBAs Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955 (800-877-8339 for the deaf and hard-of-hearing) or by sending an email to DisasterCustomerService@sba.gov. Loan application forms can be downloaded from sba.gov/disaster. Completed applications should be 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 Jan. 5, 2021. The deadline to return economic injury applications is Aug. 6, 2021.

Read more from the original source:
SBA offers disaster assistance to New Yorkers affected by August floods - Troy Record