SBA Administrator Karen Mills announced today the agency is making low-interest loans available to Louisiana Gulf Coast small businesses suffering financial losses following the April 20 Deepwater BP oil spill.
The agency's Economic Injury Disaster Loans are available up to $2 million at an interest rate of 4% with terms up to 30 years. Eligible business include those engaged in shrimping, crabbing and oyster fishing and others dependent on those industries that were affected by the oil spill.
The SBA is encouraging credit unions and other 7(a) lenders and certified development companies to consider on a case-by-case basis deferment relief for borrowers with 7(a) loans and 504 loans.
The EID loans are available immediately to small businesses in the Louisiana parishes of Jefferson, Lafourche, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Tammany Assumption, St. Charles, St. James, St. John the Baptist, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne and Washington and the neighboring Mississippi counties of Hancock and Pearl River.
