Any updates on the EIDL emergency grant will be posted here and the post will be updated regularly.
Update April 21: Even though I put 0 employees, I got $1000 from the SBA EIDL program!
Here is the timeline:
March 31: applied for EIDL program (with application number 544xxx)
April 19: SBA pulled my personal credit report
April 21: $1000 was deposited into my account from SBA TREAS
The bad news is that they are no longer accepting applications for the EIDL as of April 21st. It is unknown if they will re-open the application. Only $10 billion was allocated for the EIDL.
Last week, the CARES act was signed into law and allocated $350 billion dollars in aid and relief for small businesses. The Small Business Administration released a new streamlined application process for the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program last week. As part of the EIDL, many small business entities including sole proprietors and independent contractors (Lyft Drivers, Uber Drivers, Instacart shoppers, Amazon Flex drivers, and other delivery drivers) can get an emergency grant for up to $10,000.
You can read more about the application process and more details about the emergency grant in my last post:
The emergency grant is in CARES Act subsection 1110, subsection E under “Emergency Grants.”
SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan Response
I have not received an email response on my application or a deposit of funds as of April 6th. I applied on Tuesday, March 31st with an application number of 3300544000.
If you are eligible for a grant, you should start receiving it this week.
Small Business Administration
As more people heard about the disaster loan and emergency grant, thousands of businesses applied for the loan and grant as of last Sunday, March 31 when the new streamlined application was implemented. David Hincapie from the Small Business Administration noted in the below that there has already been 900,000 applications as of April 1st, 2020.
Your application number should reflect the number of applications submitted before you. My application number is 3300544000, so there were 544000 applications before me when I applied Tuesday, March 31st.
Small Business Administration EIDL Contact Information
To contact the Economic Injury Disaster Loan, call 800-659-2955 or email [email protected].
Updated Guidance on the SBA $10000 Emergency Grant
According to Senator Schatz’s website, there is now new guidance on the SBA Emergency Grant:
The law provides that applicants can request up to $10,000; however, because of high demand, the SBA has decided to scale the advance and will provide $1,000 per employee for up to ten employees. For example, an applicant with two employees would get $2,000, an applicant with ten employees would get $10,000, and an applicant with more than ten employees would still get $10,000.
https://www.schatz.senate.gov/coronavirus/small-businesses/sba-economic-injury-disaster-loan-and-emergency-grant
Also, a SBA bulletin was issued by the Massachusetts SBA and reiterates the same payout of $1000 per employee up to $10000.
https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USSBA/bulletins/284f240
I also emailed David Hincapie directly and he just responded that reiterated that sole proprietors and independent contractors will not receive a EIDL advance
The $10,000 maximum is for $1,000/employee. If you have no employees you will not get the advance.
David Hincapie, SBA
I am still trying to get direct guidance of sole proprietors and independent contractors. Technically, we are our own employee so we may still qualify for some money through the grant. I have reached out to multiple SBA contacts and Small Business Development Centers for an official confirmation.
The new guidance from an unofficial source on Reddit mentioned that a SBA representative stated 7-10 business days for funding instead of the quoted 3 days on the SBA website.
Contact your Senator now about EIDL!
There have been multiple Reddit threads suggesting that people contact their senators about the EIDL emergency grant. Contact your senator through phone, email, or twitter and make them aware of this problem!
Below is my tweet that you can share, copy, rewrite to include your Senator or state representative.
It is indeed true that the SBA is trying to lower the emergency grants or deny them outright to certain entities, even though there is no further guidance in the CARES act.
Economic Injury Disaster Loan Funding Source
Unlike the Payroll Protection Program where the funding comes from banks of all sizes, the EIDL funding will come from the SBA themselves. Once you apply on the SBA website, the funding will come directly from the SBA.
Economic Injury Disaster Loan and Emergency Grant
If you receive the Emergency Grant and subsequently was approved for the EIDL, both of these amounts are separate. The EIDL will be based on your business income/expenses while the Emergency Grant will be determined by the SBA.
Economic Injury Disaster Loan Denials
David commented that most of the EIDL denials has been for applicants that have a low credit score and for very small businesses. If you have a low credit score, expect your loan to be denied.
EIDL Emergency Grant Denials
In the case you do not get the full $10,000 as spelled out by the CARES act, you can attempt to appeal the decision. This was posted by Nathan Sykes of Howdy Interactive on Reddit. This is probably not going to work but very much worth a try if you are paid nothing or less than the $10,000.
Economic Injury Disaster Loan Timeline
For those who are interested in the actual EIDL, David Hincapie noted in this presentation to the NCBA that the loan will be processed in about 28-30 days, with payment about 4-5 days after the decision. The amount of the EIDL will be a calculations of six months of working capital based on your gross income, business expenses and costs of goods sold (COGS). For loans less than $300,000, funding will take place after the loan decision. For loans above $300,000, more financial information will be required.
Payment is expected to be within 35 days and this is the main reason why the emergency grant is being offered to small businesses due to the length of time of EIDL funding.
Economic Injury Disaster Loan Application Before March 29th
For those who applied for the EIDL before March 29th on the old application, these entities will receive an email asking if they want the $10,000 emergency grant. Many small business entities have reapplied using the new application as well.
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