Financial Assistance Options for Small Businesses in New York Being Affected by Covid-19

We know that this is a scary time and that a lot of you have businesses that are being affected by the Covid-19 shutdowns. While this is a rapidly developing situation, we want to provide you with the most up to date information on the resources that are currently available. We will keep you posted as we continue to gather more information.

Small Business Administration Federal Disaster Loans

The Federal Small Business Administration has announced that it will be offering federal disaster loans to small businesses that suffer “substantial economic injury” as a result of the spread of Covid-19. These loans will offer up to $2 million in assistance and may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable, and “other bills that can’t be paid because of the disaster’s impact.”

Small businesses without credit available will have an interest rate of 3.75%; businesses with credit available are not eligible. Nonprofits will have an interest rate of 2.75%. Long-term repayment plans are available, up to 30 years. However specific terms will be decided on a case-by-case basis. For more information, you can contact the SBA disaster assistance customer service center at 1-800-659-2955 or disastercustomerservice@sba.gov.

Financial Assistance for New York City Based Businesses

The Mayor’s Office has announced two new financing assistance programs to help affected businesses in New York City:

1. Companies with fewer than 100 employees, seeing a decrease in sales up to 25% or more will be eligible for zero-interest loans up to $75,000 to help mitigate losses in profit.
2. The City is also offering eligible small businesses with fewer than five employees a grant to cover 40% of payroll costs for two months to help retain employees.

Eligible owners who would like to learn more about these programs should fill out this interest form to get the most recent updates from the SBS.

The NY Department of Small Business Services has released a fact sheet with further advice for small business owners, as well as a Business Continuity Planning Checklist and Small business pandemic Checklist.

Bank Assistance

The FDIC has encouraged financial institutions to help meet the needs of businesses affected by Covid-19. That could mean, for example minimum payment assistance, deferred loan assistance, fee suppression, refunds, changing due dates and extending credit lines.

It’s early and major banks are still putting their plans in place, but many institutions have started to put up specific Coronavirus help pages for businesses. We encourage you to reach out to your bank to discuss the options available.