Disaster Loans Now Available to Help Flood Impacted Businesses, Residents in 19 Counties

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced today the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) will make its disaster loan program available in five counties recovering from the severe storms and flooding from Feb. 6 through Feb. 24, 2019.

“We are committed to pursuing every assistance option available to help Tennesseans put their lives and businesses back together from the floods earlier this year,” Gov. Lee said.

The SBA declaration covers the following Tennessee counties: Decatur, Hardin, Humphreys, Perry, and Sevier, and the adjacent counties of Benton, Blount, Carroll, Chester, Cocke, Dickson, Henderson, Hickman, Houston, Jefferson, Knox, Lewis, McNairy, and Wayne.

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.

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.

Interest rates are as low as 4 percent for businesses, 2.75 percent for nonprofit organizations, and 2.063 percent for homeowners and renters with terms up to 30 years.

Loan amount and terms are set by the SBA and are based on each applicant’s financial condition.

SBA will also open seven Disaster Loan Outreach Centers in Tennessee and make representatives available to help individuals complete their applications and to answer questions about the loan program.

The Disaster Loan Outreach Centers will open Tuesday, June 25, operating until Tuesday, July 2, in the following communities:

Sevier County: King Family Library, 408 High St. Sevierville, TN 37862

Blount County: Department of Development Services, 1221 McAuthur St. Maryville, TN 37804

Knox County: Central High School, 5321 Jacksboro Pike, Knoxville, TN 37918

All Disaster Loan Outreach Centers are closed on Sundays.

Applicants may apply online using the Electronic Loan Application (ELA) via SBA’s secure website at DisasterLoan.sba.gov.

Businesses and individuals may also obtain information and loan applications by calling the SBA’s Customer Service Center at 1-800-659-2955 (1-800-877-8339 for the deaf and hard-ofhearing), or by emailing disastercustomerservice@sba.gov. Loan applications can also be downloaded at www.sba.gov. Completed applications should be returned to the Disaster Loan Outreach Centers or 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 Aug. 20, 2019. The deadline to return economic injury applications is March 23, 2020.

Source: TEMA