EIDL Loan Increases: Should you apply?

Economic Impact Disaster Loans are loans designed to get money into the hands of business owners and private contractors during the pandemic. While not as widely popularized as the PPP program it has been an effective tool in combating economic hardship during the coronavirus pandemic. The program ended last year but has received additional funding due to the American Rescue Plan passed earlier this year. Most of the qualifications for this program are the same for the PPP loan. American citizens who are business owners, private contractors, sole proprietors, or gig workers are all eligible for the program. This is also true for people who work full time jobs but also operate as the owner of a small business on the side or that participate in gig work to make extra money. Depending on the amount of workers a person employs, it is possible to get up to $500,000 in EIDL Loans. From my own personal experience I was able to qualify for $1,000 last time around and recently completed a request for an additional $3,000 (I will update on whether I am approved or not). The process is simple and only takes a couple of minutes to do. If you do decide to apply for funding remember you MUST be honest on the application. Intentionally fabricating information just to qualify can get you in more trouble than it’s worth. The application can be located at covid19relief.sba.gov. For those who have already applied for the program and received funding before you must log into your SBA account. Once you are logged in, the page will give you the option of selecting an amount for increase. After selecting the amount you will hit accept and wait for the request to be processed. It can take several weeks before they return with an answer. If you are capable of getting funded use them wisely. Funds provided by this program can be used for payroll, health care benefits for employees, rent, utilities, fixed debt payments, repairs, and replacing inventory. Any other usage of funds can be problematic later down the line. If the EIDL program sounds right for you apply as soon as possible while funds are still available. Many people were scared away from participating in the Payroll Protection Program from fear consequences down the line but if you meet the criteria and use the money for the right reasons you will not have to worry. This program is designed to help business owners and private contractors through these trying times and taking advantage of it is your right.