Delay In Federal Disaster Assistance Causing Failure Of Small Business In Disaster Areas
illi News/10326635

BILOXI, Miss. - illiNews -- The large loan program for the Economic Injury Disaster Loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration which provides assistance to small business owners located in declared disaster areas is taking eight to ten months on average to process.

This particular program with loan amounts from one million to two million dollars, endures much stricter underwriting and control standards due to it being the maximum the agency can lend to a business impacted by a disaster.

However, the long processing time is requiring the layoff of employees, the inability to pay normal operating expenses and the ultimate failure of the businesses in eighty percent of the cases according to some sources.

SBA Disaster Loan Agency, a private non profit organization is offering funding assistance to business owners during the federal processing time with working capital loans to be paid off from the federal assistance. This will allow the business to make payroll, pay normal operating expenses and keep the business operating until the larger amount of funding takes place from the government.

Although SBA Disaster Loan Agency is not a government organization it manages the process companies encounter when applying to the government for the disaster assistance. It provides the forms, portal assistance, underwriting and funding compliance as well as post closing record keeping.

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"The bridge funding program is the lifeline to the lifeline," says Lane Manning, founder of SBA Disaster Loan Agency. "Few companies can survive the time required to obtain disaster assistance from the government." Manning explains, "and it's not because there aren't good hard working government employees doing their job because there are some great people in those positions. It's the system," he continues, "after the program was offered nationwide during COVID to every business in America the volume became unmanageable. There were sixteen million applications one month early on when the program was offered under the "CARES" act. All of a sudden the Office of Disaster Assistance went from 7,700 employees to 77,000. During this time foreign bad actors stole billions from the SBA and the American citizens. As a result the system has been changed numerous times and continues to be developed to protect against fraud and misrepresentation. Unfortunately, all of these safeguards have created a process that is complex, burdensome, frustrating and confusing to say the least. It's the last type of difficulties a disaster victim needs to contend with while suffering. We believe the bridge loan program is the relief for that suffering during processing," Manning concluded.

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The Executive Director, Ramona Brumfield, was a SBA Paralegal and Case Manager with the Office of Disaster Assistance in Ft. Worth, TX. where the processing and disbursement center (PDC) is located for over three years. "I used to cry after listening to messages left by disaster victims in need. While the staff provided was never enough to keep up we all had to pitch in with answering the phones and listening to the messages. The stories were so heartbreaking that I couldn't sleep most nights I worked for the SBA. There was nothing we could do because we were slaves to the system. Everyone had to follow the system and we had no control to speed anything up. We just had to enforce compliance. Now working outside the Agency and providing assistance to disaster victims with this bridge loan program I can truly say I am helping these victims in ways I never thought possible."

SBA Disaster Loan Agency does not solicit nor accept donations. All of the private non profit's income is from other companies it founded and currently owns. It has a publishing company, financial services company and private investment company which is the source of its revenue.