SBA Announces Additional Deferment for EIDL Borrowers

An additional deferment period was added this week for borrowers of a COVID loan program.

Isabella Casillas Guzman, administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, directed the agency to provide additional deferment of principal and interest payments for existing COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program borrowers for a total of 30 months deferment from inception on all approved COVID EIDL loans.

The extended deferment period aims to provide additional flexibility to small business owners impacted by the pandemic, especially those in hard-hit sectors managing disruption with recent variants, as well as recent supply chain and inflation challenges amid a growing economic recovery.

The COVID EIDL program is a federal disaster relief loan that has allocated more than $351 billion in relief to 3.9 million borrowers since it’s inception.

Key information regarding deferment: 

• This deferment extension is effective for all COVID-EIDL loans approved in calendar years 2020, 2021 and 2022. Loans now have a total deferment of 30 months from the date of the Note. Interest will continue to accrue on the loans during the deferment. 
• Borrowers may make partial or full payments during the deferment period but are not required to. The SBA recommends using www.pay.gov. 
• The SBA will not send monthly SBA Form 1201 payment notices; however, the SBA will send regular payment reminders via email.
• Existing COVID EIDL Borrowers can find account balances and payment due dates in the SBA Capital Access Financial System (CAFS) and learn how to set up an account in the CAFS system by logging in at Capital Access Financial System (sba.gov).  
• Deferments may result in balloon payments. The deferment will not stop any established Preauthorized Debit (PAD) or recurring payments on the loan. COVID-EIDL Borrowers with an SBA established PAD must contact their SBA servicing center to stop recurring payments during the extended deferment period. COVID-EIDL Borrowers who have established a PAD through Pay.Gov or any other bill pay service are responsible for terminating recurring payments during the extended deferment period. 
• After the deferment period ends, COVID-EIDL Borrowers will be required to make regular principal and interest payments beginning 30 months from the date of the Note.
   

Borrowers with questions can call SBA’s COVID EIDL Customer Service Center toll-free at 1-833-853-5638 (borrowers who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability can dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services) or email DisasterCustomerService@sba.gov for additional assistance. The center is open Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET. Multilingual representatives are available. Small business owners may also contact SBA’s Resource Partners by visiting www.sba.gov/local-assistance. For additional information on COVID EIDL, please visit www.sba.gov/relief. 

Read the full press release from the SBA.