IAAPA: important policy changes to the COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program

By | October 6, 2021

IAAPA is hosting a joint webinar with the Small Business Administration (SBA) on Thursday, October 7th from 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm ET to walk members through important policy changes to the COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDL). Loan funds are available until the end of the year or the money runs out.

The SBA recently made critical changes to their COVID-EIDL loan program to better meet the needs of eligible Covid-impacted businesses. These are welcome changes that IAAPA has been advocating for on behalf of the attractions industry. EIDL loans are structured as 3.75% interest loans for 30 years with a 2-year deferment. The recent changes include:  

  • Increasing the loan cap from $500,000 to $2 million
  • Allowing the use of funds to be applied to payment and prepayment of commercial debt and regularly scheduled payments of federal debt
  • 24 months of deferment from loan origination for all loans
  • Simplification of affiliation requirements
  • Providing additional ways for businesses with multiple locations in certain NAICS codes (including attractions industry NAICs code 71) to meet the size standards (500 or fewer employees per location with 20 or fewer locations (including locations of affiliates)

For those of you who have EIDL loans and are interested in increasing your loan levels, representatives from the SBA will offer strategies for expediting the process.

This is your opportunity to have your questions answered directly by policymakers implementing the program.

Lastly, for anyone who has run into administrative problems and/or delays, the webinar will go over new processes the SBA has put into place to prevent similar problems moving forward.