Will SBA Sell Their SBA COVID-19 EIDL Portfolio

This blog complements our YouTube video, where we analyzed an INC.com Article.

We scrutinized several sections in the article, The SBA Will Keep Its Covid Loan Portfolio to Avoid Taking a $120 Billion Haircut by bringing a unique perspective thanks to our 30-year-plus loan officer who specialized in government loans, has worked on several hundred EIDL files, has had thousands of interactions with business owners and SBA reps on EIDL files, transactions, business changes, etc.

Thank you, Inc.com, for writing this article. Previously, the only media attention on this U.S. Treasury debacle, which has been going on for several months, was an article in the Wall Street Journal.

We think Inc.com did a credible job discussing these elements, giving us an opportunity to illuminate them point-by-point and provide more depth so that you can understand the program.

Why We Spoke Up About This Article

We started working on COVID-19 EIDL applications in March and April 2020. We helped our clients get an estimated $70 million in approved loans. 

We estimate that, with the free videos on our YouTube channel and various blogs on our website, including how-to instructional videos and live Q&A sessions, we helped small business owners get approved for another $30 million on their own.

The Implications of this Article

Inc.com specifically addressed the COVID-19 EIDL program and how, under tremendous political pressure from certain politicians in Washington, D.C., the SBA was going to take a huge tranche of the COVID-19 EIDL portfolio and sell to private collection agencies. We’ll address why that’s bad for business owners. 

The other element of our conversation about the article, based on our expertise and day-to-day interactions with SBA, is that we have a different understanding of the statements made in this article. We’ve outlined those statements to give insight to help you arrive at an action plan that you will want to implement. It has to do with you and the political representatives who represent you.

Consequences for Business Owners

If you have recently suffered the terrific trauma of having your COVID-19 EIDL shipped off to the Treasury for collection by the SBA due to their systemic failures under the program, you want to review this blog and watch our video. 

If you haven’t yet entered repayment because your 30-month deferment period hasn’t ended yet, you want to be aware of what’s going on behind the scenes to help you make decisions about how you’ll interact with SBA.

Even though the SBA has systemic failures, this does not relieve you of the responsibility to participate in resolving issues that occur with your EIDL. These issues will not be resolved on their own. You must participate in the process despite that SBA is the one that caused the issues in the first place.

Debate on Business Owner Responsibility

Linda Rey and Trevor have a long-standing disagreement about how much responsibility the business owner has regarding their EIDL despite SBA’s dysfunction.

We have been assisting small business owners who hired Aurora Consulting since January 2024 to help get their loans removed from collection activity at Treasury and returned to servicing at the SBA. Hearing their stories made Trevor more and more disgusted with the dysfunction of the SBA and its failures to help its constituents, the small business owners, properly understand the terms of the loan, understand the repayment procedures, and make payments on the loan.

Linda Rey’s perspective on this is that if you’re a business owner and have an EIDL, you’ve got to be aware of what’s happening with your loan. You need to understand the status of your EIDL, what requirements need to be tended to. Trevor pushes back often and says it’s not entirely their fault. 

Linda Rey supports the basic tenet that business owners need to do a better job managing their loans, given the dysfunctional SBA.

Ill-preparedness and Excuses

Being busy is not an excuse. The first step needs to be catching yourself when you’re making an excuse. And catching yourself when you’re trying to say, this is not my fault, but isn’t it if you didn’t stay on top of the status of the loan while in SBA’s custody? You know you have this EIDL. You signed for it. It is your responsibility. And it’s your fault if you’re not following the procedures or at least being proactive, knowing the SBA is dysfunctional.

Article Analysis

In the first paragraph, Inc.com mentions how the SBA decided that it would not sell one of its “pandemic-era loan portfolios.” The Pandemic-Era Loan Portfolio is the COVID-19 EIDL program. This differs from the historical Natural Disaster EIDL program that’s been around since 1953.  There’s a distinction between the two EIDL programs hence why it’s important that we clarify this term.

How Borrowers Can Default

The article claims that the COVID-19 EIDL program has an estimated default rate in the double digits. We’ll do some math later on, which will make you chuckle.  Let’s talk about what does that mean. Let’s define default.

1. You’re not paying the loan back: Non-payment of the EIDL

However, you could also be in default if you engage in certain changes without notifying SBA or getting permission, such as:

2. Sold your business
3. Brought in an investor
4. Sold assets

We outline other scenarios in our SBA COVID-19 EIDL Guidebook

In the case of EIDLs that were transferred to Treasury in late 2023, we believe it’s primarily due to default of non-payment. 
But what does non-payment mean? Does it mean somebody who never made any payments and never intends to make payments?

It could mean that you’re 30 days late on your payment. By federal regulation, once you’ve reached 120 days of delinquency on payments, the SBA must automatically assign your loan for collection to the United States Treasury, which adds a 30 percent penalty.  This means Treasury can garnish wages, W2 payroll, offset tax refunds, and other federal government payments.

it also means that Treasury could send your loan to a private collection agency.

SBA Communication Failures

We’ve seen folks who were attempting to make payments, but it wasn’t the full monthly amount per the loan agreement. This is where SBA failed at the Hardship Accommodation Program as a means to alleviate monthly payments while businesses were still recovering from the pandemic. 

SBA never really made a formal announcement about HAP, even when folks were calling to figure out how to make a payment, even if it was less than the terms on the LAA. This is another reason we are relentless in urging you to be better than the SBA and have everything documented.

How You Can Default for Non-Payment

1. You never received a notification that your first payment was due

2. You received the notification, and the due date is unclear

3. Borrowers were/are confused about the end of their 30-month deferment period

Our estimate is approximately 1.2 million EIDLs are coming due between June and October of 2024. 

Many business owners thought the deferment period started when their EIDL was approved for an increase. In fact, we’ve heard folks say, “Oh, I got my second loan.” The EIDL was one loan with an increase modification. However, we know SBA screwed this up, too, for some folks and issued a separate loan agreement in addition to the original 2020 EIDL approval.

Because of SBA’s poor training and communication, they didn’t teach people about this distinction of the program. 

4. SBA’s changing technology issue

In 2022, if you wanted to pay your loan, you created an account on pay.gov. Then, in early 2023, SBA transitioned that to a new portal called Lending.MySBA.gov. And there was a whole host of problems with that. 

5. ACH payments

People scheduled payments, but SBA did not access the account to transfer the funds to satisfy the payment requirement. Instead of notifying the borrower about a failed payment, they marked the file with a delinquent payment status and applied it to the next month with no notification. 

6. Failure to roll out a more timely Hardship Accommodation Program

This gives you reduced payments for six-month periods. Not only did the SBA keep that a massive secret in early 2023, but they also managed it terribly.  People would call and say, “I’m having difficulty making payments,” and the SBA representatives would not offer it to them to help them manage repaying the loan.

7. Relying on phone calls to the SBA 

To this day, we tell people, whenever possible, not to call the SBA. You’re wasting your time and risk getting misinformation.

The Math Doesn’t Add Up

The article cites an estimated default rate of 37% of the EIDL portfolio. How can this agency calculate something that isn’t even functioning properly?

The article also cites that nearly 74% of businesses making their payments have paid or are still on track to pay. Then, how is it that there is a 37% default rate? 

Another crucial factor to consider is the significant number of loans that have not yet entered full repayment. This is due to their 30-month deferment periods, which are only now ending between June and October of 2024.


Last year, between political pressure from politicians who don’t understand the program and do not support small business owners, the SBA’s Office of Inspector General would talk to any news reporter he could access, any politician he could get in front of, any congressional or senate committee he could talk to, and claimed that his Office of Inspector General, which is supposed to help the agency prevent fraud and prosecute criminal behavior, estimated massive fraud. 

 

It was reported that they estimated half of the EIDLs were fraudulent. He claimed that 2 million out of the 4 million loans were fraudulent.

Political Pressure

In the article, it cited that Republican lawmakers have been calling for a sale of the portfolio. They put extra pressure on the SBA. We believe the politician’s soundbites are self-serving. Plus, it’s an election year. 

If small businesses are the backbone of the economy, why is the SBA the most underfunded agency in government, given its monumental mission of managing the COVID-19 EIDL program AND the ongoing Natural Disaster EIDLs, and all the dysfunction behind that program and process? 

In our humble opinion, the bottom line is that they have failed small businesses. Politicians don’t know small business. They are not small business owners. There may be a handful of politicians who are business owners, but for the most part, these career politicians are a joke.

Loan Portfolio Sale and Private Collectors

Selling the portfolio would require that anyone in the private market would demand a steep discount on the value of the portfolio. So that’s the “haircut” reference in the article.

The other element is that SBA is not completely ruling out that sometime in the future, they have the option to sell this portfolio off or a portion of it, and if that happens, it could be worse for small business owners than if the Treasury handles it. Why? 

Suppose a private portfolio lender buys a section of this portfolio from the SBA. They’re going to come after business owners, fierce and fast for the debt because they want their money. If you’ve ever defaulted on credit card, car loan, or mortgage, and the lender sells that bad debt to a collection agency, they sell it to you with the haircut for pennies on the dollar. That means they are relentless in collecting.

Advocate for Better Support

We urge you to contact your political representatives to advocate for better SBA funding and support.
We provide templates in our SBA COVID-19 EIDL Guidebook

While we’ve tried to peel back the layers of this article, the layers of bureaucratic mismanagement are many. We encourage taking proactive steps to ensure survival and success in these challenging economic times. 

Knowing is half the battle; the other half is action. 

For those seeking comprehensive guidance, our EIDL Guidebook is a treasure trove of information and instruction, offering step-by-step solutions for navigating this turbulent environment.

EIDL Q&A 101

Questions and Answers about EIDL

Small Business Owners have so many questions about the COVID-19 EIDL program such as: 

  • “Are EIDL loans forgiven if a business closes?” 
  • “What happens if I can’t pay back my EIDL loan?”
  • “Are business owners personally liable for EIDL loans?”  

Many business owners reach out to us through our website and our YouTube channel seeking answers to these questions because of our expertise with the EIDL program.

To find the answers to these and so many other questions, the normal course of action would be to visit the SBA website or to call the SBA to ask these questions. 

However, in our opinion, SBA has a terrible reputation in providing clarity about procedures and programs. In our experience working with SBA since 2018, the administration’s communications are simply terrible.

Another aspect to these questions is that each business has a unique “personality.” Answers to questions for any given “unique” business cannot be simple “one size fits all” responses. 

EIDL Q&A 101 blog Nov 27 2023

There’s too much room for nuance and a typical answer to a specific question posed by a business owner must be crafted to include the unique traits of that business.

This has been our experience in working with Small Business Owners and answering their questions during and after the SBA’s COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. No two situations are the same, and we find that our responses to the queries we receive must resonate with each different business situation.

A good example is a defaulted EIDL. The business closed due to no fault of the business owner; these things happen out there in the wide landscape of the small business world. The business has a $500,000 COVID-19 EIDL on the books, but since the business is closed, there’s no way to make payments on that loan. 

The business owner consults with their attorney and realizes that the option of filing two bankruptcies, one for the business and one for the business owner’s personal asset protection, are not viable options, especially on the personal side.

What is the business owner to do in this situation? When calling the SBA, the administration’s response is that the loan must be repaid, one way or another, including assignment to the United States Treasury for collection action by the IRS. 

The loan includes a personal guarantee provision, therefore the business owner is on the hook for full liability to make good on the defaulted loan. But how to repay the loan when the business is closed and has no revenue? How to protect the business owner when personal bankruptcy is not an option?

This is a description of an actual client scenario we’re currently working on here at Aurora Consulting. Through our expansive interview process, combined with the experience of our resident retired Loan Officer, Trevor, we examined the unique circumstances of this business and the business owner to arrive at a solution.  

The SBA provided zero assistance in arriving at the solution, other than a recent change to their collections practices which offered an opportunity to complete our recommended strategy.

We are inundated with questions from Small Business Owners on a weekly basis about the various aspects of the COVID-19 EIDL program. Often, those folks have discovered information from other sources. But too often that information is incorrect or incomplete based on a different business’ different needs. 

As mentioned above, each unique business has a personality all its own, and solutions that work for one business may not work for another.  

The day before Thanksgiving we fielded this question from a comment (note: we’ve not edited the comment below to correct any typos or grammar) on one of our YouTube videos: 

If the SBA did really care and didn’t wanted (sic) us to fail, the least they could do, is wipe all the acrued (sic) interest, my payments are $425 per month and my acrued interest is about $5,000 right now, so basically I’m only doing payments just to cover interest over interest and nothing is going to capital. I tried to do payments for about 5 months, but i gave up…

This comment is an excellent example of the lack of clear information about the loan program available from the SBA directly and, indirectly from multiple internet sources.

First, the SBA is a federal agency and, in the case of the COVID-19 EIDL, they’re a direct LENDER. There’s no “emotion” built into the program to “care” because the SBA is tasked by the United States Congress to first lend the money and secondly, to collect the debt through regular monthly repayments of the loans.

Next, “wipe” the interest is not something the SBA is permitted to do under legislation passed by Congress. The agency has provided deferments of payments for up to 30 months, but the interest still accrues on the loan because it’s a LOAN. It was not a gift or a grant. The American taxpayers funded these loans and SBA is required to protect the taxpayers’ interests to collect repayments, including interest.

Finally, the most challenging part of this person’s comment is the lack of understanding that they are paying some principal on the loan. During the deferment period, no payments are required, but if a borrower makes a payment, the total of that payment goes to the interest only.  Once the 30-month deferment period ends, regular amortization of the loan commences with each monthly payment going towards principal and interest.

We know from our own experiences of questioning SBA that their communications are not always clear on this aspect. And there’s nothing to be discovered on the SBA website that explains this aspect.   Likewise, SBA is not fully disclosing that the deferred interest will be due as a “lump sum” balloon payment at the end of the loan term of 30 years.

In 2021, we created an expert comprehensive guidebook, the “Post-Closing Blueprint.”  The purpose of this guide is to answer all the questions we could anticipate that Small Business Owners would have about the SBA’s COVID-19 EIDL program. 

Whether a business is challenged to repay the loan or has a simple question about how the repayment of principal and interest works, we anticipated these questions and answered them in our guidebook.

We did this for two reasons. First, because we saw how much confusion already existed around the program due to SBA’s poor communications. We knew that Small Business Owners would have these 30-year loans and their questions would come up from time to time.

The second reason we created the guidebook is because our availability would eventually become limited to answer questions like the ones posed above by the owner of the closed business with the defaulting EIDL and from the comment on our YouTube video. 

Currently, we continue to update our YouTube videos with relevant and timely information. We also respond to comments, offer one-hour paid consultations, and offer in-depth consulting. But we won’t be offering these services forever. 

Like so many other Small Businesses, we’ve found that it’s time for us to move on from the COVID-19 EIDL program and find other sources of revenue for our Small Businesses. We have so much valuable information to share with businesses that borrowed money from the SBA’s EIDL program.

Based on our success with obtaining about $70 Million in approved loans for our Clients and our estimate of assisting other small businesses with free advice with another $30 Million in loans, we’ve spoken to thousands of small business owners and hundreds of SBA agents. We worked on hundreds of EIDL files, and we have continued to interact with the SBA and small business owners in various capacities since the program ended in May 2022.

But we won’t be available as an expert resource for more than another year or two.  And these loans are 30-year loans. We’ve answered your questions with expert guidance in our “Post-Closing Blueprint” and we encourage you to purchase the guide as your “on the shelf” handy reference for any time in the future when you might need a simple question answered or when you have a complicated situation arise and you need our guidance before you contact the SBA.

By example, we answered the comment about the accrued/deferred interest and principal and interest payments with an entire CHAPTER in the guidebook.

We anticipated and covered every possible situation and question that could arise.  If you are the kind of small business owner who takes your responsibility under the COVID-19 EIDL program seriously, and you want to properly honor the restrictions and repayment obligations of the loan, our guide is your single-source resource. 

We continue to provide revisions and updates to the guide as SBA develops new responses and procedures. And we’re providing those updates FREE of charge to anyone who purchases the guidebook through December of 2024.

#SBA #DisasterLoan #SBADisasterLoan #EIDL #NaturalDisaster #SBAEIDL #Tornado #HurricaneIan #Hurricane #Wildfire #Drought #SmallBusiness #SmallBusinessLoan #EIDL #EIDLRepayment #PayEIDL #SBAPayment #PaySBA #SmallBusiness #COVIDEIDL #CAFSportal #paygov  #MySBA #COVID19EIDL #COVIDLoan #SBACOVIDLoan #SBACOVID #SmallBusinessLoan 

3 Key Issues with the SBA Natural Disaster EIDL Loan

YouTube Playlist
YouTube Playlist

An article recently published by Louisville Public Media, shares how homeowners and business owners are working on their recovery from a natural disaster, notably, the Kentucky floods of July, 2022.  We learned so much about the SBA and its disaster loan program during COVID by assisting thousands of Small Business Owners.  There’s good news, and there’s bad news. We reflect on both.

We summarize several key points from the article to help you better understand three things about SBA natural disaster loans:

  1. SBA is the lending processing “infrastructure.” That’s why FEMA refers you to SBA for the loan. But, the lending process can be complicated, lengthy, confusing, and bureaucratically rigid.
  2. You must apply for the SBA natural disaster loan and receive a decision before you can request most other FEMA assistance.
  3. SBA sees its natural disaster loan mission as making your Small Business “100% whole to cover uninsured losses.”

One homeowner interviewed refused to accept an approved SBA loan because “The strings that are attached and all the things that go along with an SBA loan is quite extraordinary.”

An SBA public affairs specialist is quoted in the article saying, “Our job is to try to make someone whole as near as possible. We cover up to 100% of their uninsured losses.”

Our experience with SBA is this: while these SBA intentions are noble, SBA’s internal workings often present many obstacles to the goal of approval, notably with poor communications between SBA and applicants and with inconsistent underwriting standards applied by SBA staff.

Investigators from other governmental organizations have previously determined the FEMA-SBA process is overly complicated and poorly communicated. Many people in a disaster situation simply cannot understand why they must apply for a loan, nevertheless a loan through the Small Business Administration.

These same investigations uncovered the fact that many people “leave money on the table” by failing to apply for loans or turning down loan offers. Many others are frustrated by slow response times.

In our work during COVID-19, we often advised people to follow “Trevor’s Golden Rule: Always Apply.”   The SBA natural disaster loan can provide a much-needed lifeline to recovery at very low-interest rates.  And applicants do not need to accept the loan even when finally approved.

Small Business Owners should note that “FEMA does not offer grants to businesses. SBA loans are the primary federal resource available for…businesses…(damaged) in a disaster.

A researcher who is an Assistant Professor at a University, interviewed, provides the following feedback based on her research on how communities, including businesses, recover from disasters. Her research “shows that businesses whose owners receive SBA loans are more likely to survive after a disaster.”

A business owner interviewed in the article stated that she applied for an SBA natural disaster loan but was “declined…because of credit.”

We learned that SBA’s declinations for credit are misleading.  First, SBA’s own underwriting guidelines for Loan Officers state that an applicant for a natural disaster loan does not have to be denied due to credit.

Second, we know from experience that SBA loan officers often don’t know how to read a credit report, relying solely on the credit score, which is addressed in the underwriting guidelines as “not the only reason” for denying the application. SBA’s guidelines encourage their loan officers to delve deeper into credit history and ask questions about credit rather than rely solely on credit scores.  But we know from experience that SBA loan officers very often ignore these guidelines and base their application decisions solely on credit score.

thumbnail for the video about credit score Linda Rey and trevor sitting on chairs with curious facial expressionsTrevor has discussed credit scores extensively on our YouTube channel.  We have a playlist dedicated to credit score inquiries, low credit scores when applying for a loan and how to write a credit explanation letter. Watch this video on the myth of running credit and the common question about “hard vs. soft hits.”

Lastly, regarding credit, many applicants have identity protections including locked credit reports.  We have seen many, many times where SBA will decline an applicant for “credit” due solely to the reason that the credit report was locked and SBA could not access the report.  SBA representatives consistently fail to disclose this pertinent fact to applicants and SBA’s declination letter makes no mention of a locked credit report stating only that the application was declined “due to credit.”

We have stated repeatedly in our YouTube videos that you must request Reconsideration to fight when your SBA natural disaster application is declined.  This brings your application to a higher level of scrutiny that can get the negative decision overturned for a positive result in your favor: approval.

Our final observation on this excellent article from Louisville Public Media. Based on this quote from a disaster resource attorney who works with an organization that provides free legal assistance:  “…she tells clients who do qualify for an SBA loan to take it because not taking it may disqualify them from additional assistance and the other financial option will most likely be a personal or bank loan.  If a disaster survivor doesn’t use financial assistance, they might leave the area…”

During the pandemic, we assisted thousands of Small Business Owners with the SBA program.  We know the complaints and anxieties by Small Business Owners, about the program, are legendary.  But we also know that, without that assistance, so many more businesses would have failed due to the pandemic.  

That’s why we provide these YouTube videos and our expert advice: we know the value of these programs. That’s why we often say, “Stop complaining and start submitting!”  

  1. Get your SBA natural disaster application submitted.
  2. Follow up and respond in a timely manner with documents.
  3. Set your frustrations about SBA’s process aside; do the work.  

The benefit you receive on the other side is tremendous and will help your business recover from the natural disaster. 

You can visit our EIDL Natural Disaster Consulting service page where you can complete a survey if you’re interested in assistance through this complicated process.

SBA Facts, Faults and Failures

For all its faults, SBA has helped MILLIONS of Small Business Owners (SBOs) with the EIDL program. Seems irrelevant when you’re still waiting for funds.

The SBA has many, many, many faults, however we’ve discussed Trevor’s “Three P’s” for EIDL success: Patience, Persistence, and Process. Today we add a fourth “P”: PEOPLE.

An SBA senior Loan Officer, also a former Mortgage Banker like Trevor, recently said to Trevor, “It comes down to who’s working on the file here at SBA.”  There’s a lot of “in between the lines” to unpack about that comment.

The Loan Officer also made this statement: “You know, the application for EIDL is pretty simple. A tax return, and a couple of documents. It’s not complicated.

This is why your success—OR FAILURE—with the SBA process and your application, more often comes down to ONE PERSON.  One good person gets you approved; one bad person leads you into SBA EIDL HELL.

DECLINATIONS

We have NO RESPECT for SBA declination letters. The reasons given for declinations are often so absurd and so out of touch with the reality of the loan application documents is a complete JOKE.

Declination Examples:

“You’ve received maximum allowable EIDL based on your 2019 tax return” or “Economic Injury Unsubstantiated” when the tax return CLEARLY shows there’s sufficient income. ONE PERSON at SBA doesn’t know how to do 5th grade arithmetic. That ONE PERSON DECLINED the loan.

“Withdrawn due to inactivity” this one is one of the BIGGEST JOKE declinations.  We’ve received these on files where we had literally submitted documents weekly for two months.  Even after emailing with a Loan Officer!

AND THE INFAMOUS: “Unverifiable Information”. What does this even mean? They don’t tell you what information was unverifiable.

THANKFUL MOMENT: YOU CAN GET APPROVED with the FOUR P’s: patience, persistence, process, and people.

Ignore the declination letter.  Don’t give up. File a Reconsideration; file four Reconsiderations. KEEP GOING.

You will NEVER KNOW the reason you were declined.  Remember what the Loan Officer said to Trevor: “It’s pretty simple.” If you KNOW that you’ve submitted your documents in a clear and organized and professional manner, then you’re going to get approved. As long as you’re persistent and you keep going until the RIGHT PERSON gets your file, you will get approved.

OTHER ADVICE: Everything we share with you is based on hundreds of interactions and hundreds of Clients and thousands of documents combined with Trevor’s 30+ YEARS as a Lender.  Here’s some valuable advice we have for you:

You’re the only person who can provide the best quality documents and the most accurate information.

Sure, you can read about a couple of people on Reddit who:

A) Called their politician
B) Called the SBA everyday
C) Made friends with an SBA Loan Officer but the advice they give you is WRONG.

  • CALLING SBA is a waste of time
  • EMAILING SBA is a waste of time
  • POLITICIANS CANNOT HELP
  • THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS

SUBMITTING documents in an organized manner, with NO STORY TELLING, is the ONLY WAY to get a RESULT

IF you’re declined, submit a RECONSIDERATION.  Don’t give up. Organize your documents and send it in AGAIN. AND AGAIN. UNTIL you’re approved.

SBA: The Painful Truth

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For more than 18 months we’ve processed EIDL files for our Clients. For 18 months we’ve dealt with the complete dysfunctional insanity known as the Small Business Administration (SBA). Today we’re sharing with you the “painful truth” of what you can expect with your interactions with the SBA.

We know there are many videos, blog posts, newspaper articles, not to mention SBA “good news” propaganda out there in the world. We know that millions of Small Business Owners are desperate to receive the vital funding available through the EIDL program. We know that, in the moment of truth when a Small Business Owner (SBO) receives ANY kind of notification from SBA, or any hint of activity or whisper of progress, the typical SBO loses their minds, thinking, “Finally! At long last!” 

It’s a lot like Tom Hanks on the beach in the movie “Castaway” when he sees an airplane flying overhead. He’s so desperately, depressingly, excited, to even dare think he might be one tiny step closer to being rescued that his emotions overwhelm him, first with the excitement stage, then in the absolute grief stricken stage when he realizes he’s lost, without any hope.

That’s exactly how millions of SBOs feel with the SBA and the EIDL process.

Here are some “painful truths” to help you prepare yourself to better handle your emotions and potential anxiety.

The Background.

Trevor is a 30+ year veteran Mortgage Loan Officer. He has literally “seen it all” and he dealt, almost exclusively, with U.S. Government lending programs. He leverages this experience in two (2) ways for our EIDL Clients. 

First, because he understands Government regulations and processes, he approaches the EIDL application with a different perspective from the average Small Business Owner. It’s more pragmatic, more logical, more process-driven. 

Secondly, given the opportunity to speak directly with an SBA representative, Trevor flashes his credentials like a big city homicide detective in a small town police station after his grandmother smacked her car into a neighbor’s shrubbery. 

He’s polite, respectful, but, because of his experience, and because he presents himself as a colleague and fellow traveler, the SBA representatives, more often than not, communicate with him differently than they would to you. Often, they share insights into the SBA process that would NEVER be revealed to the average SBO.

For instance, yesterday a young SBA Loan Officer made the following two statements upon hearing Trevor’s “I’m a Loan Officer” introductory rap: “I’ll be honest, the guidelines change almost weekly.” And, “I’m not talking out of school, but sometimes, I get quite frustrated with many of my colleagues and the notes they make in the files.

In other words, there’s an entire “behind the scenes” aspect that SBOs simply cannot grasp. And you may not understand how that behavior at this Federal bureaucracy is prohibiting you from getting access to these vital funds.

Important “Painful Truths” to understand.

Painful Truth: Seven days to submit documents.

SBA says you have seven days to submit documents (we’ve seen three days also!). Problem is twofold:

1. Even if you submit the requested documents, say an IRS 4506-T, within three minutes of receiving the request, you’re most likely to hear nothing back from SBA for weeks. Or months

2. We’ve seen SBA indicate this ridiculous rule of “seven days to submit” only to get an email six weeks later, looking for the same documents, whether they were submitted or not. In short, what the SBA “says” about your process must NOT be trusted AT ALL.

Painful truth: multiple IP address log-ins. 

Yes, we’ve discovered that SBA representatives are putting fraud alerts on your EIDL file if you’ve logged in from multiple different IP addresses, whether by emailing the SBA or by visiting the SBA portal. 

That fraud alert is literally stopping your file in its tracks. 

Many SBOs have been working for many months, or even more than a year, to get their EIDL processed. In all that time, out here in the real world, it’s perfectly reasonable that someone might use different computers or devices, or different Wi-Fi networks to interact with the SBA. 

BUT, instead of understanding how the world actually works, the SBA treats these normal activities as fraudulent. Meanwhile, the real criminals have been stealing money from the SBA and the US Government since day one. 

You are getting lumped in with the criminals simply because you used your iPhone to log into the SBA portal on Monday, and then your home computer on Thursday.

Painful truth: SBA representatives either don’t read your complete documents submitted, or, worse, they don’t know their own required forms.

We’ve seen it all in this regard. We’ve used the SBA’s own forms (3501, 3502, 1368) to submit Reconsiderations and Appeals, only to get yet another ridiculous document request, or worse, a declination, because the SBA person working on the file didn’t bother to read the SBA forms we submitted, or didn’t understand them.

The reasons for this behavior are layered, ranging from:

  • lack of time to review the file thoroughly (a true underwrite takes hours, not minutes)
  • lack of training or knowledge, and finally
  • utter incompetence

What can you do about this? Nothing, other than keep plugging away.

Painful Truth: Management Review

Even if your SBA Loan Officer is a Superhero on your file, because of the aforementioned fraud consciousness of SBA, your file must go to a supervisory level to sign off on the Loan Officer’s approval. Not only can this be a “black hole” for your file disappearing, but some of these supervisors are attorneys, not loan officers. So, even if you had a great conversation with your Loan Officer, once the supervisors get your file…well, you understand the painful truth revealed here.

When your EIDL file is declined, you will NEVER in ONE MILLION years be told the truth of why the file was declined.

STOP ASKING WHY. They won’t tell you, or will give you a reason that may or may not be accurate. This is mostly because there are no accurate notes in your file at SBA and also because to answer your question literally requires a FULL UNDERWRITING REVIEW of your file.

The Customer Service rep or Tier 2 Agent cannot give you that level of attention. They cannot. PLEASE STOP ASKING. 

Final Painful Truth: YOU, the EIDL applicant. 

Your emotion, anxiety and failure to carefully manage your own documentation, gets in the way.  We see this time and time again with our clients. 

They want to tell “story”, and yet, they submit documents that are inadequate, incorrect, contradictory, and incomplete.

We’ve said this thousands of times: STOP STORYTELLING.

The SBA reps not only don’t want to hear it, but you’re muddying the waters of your loan process. Do you know what it’s like to have to sort through 23 novel-length emails explaining and telling stories? It’s impossible.

We’re advocates for our clients. Can you imagine how the SBA representatives react to this nonsense? You’re your own worst enemy with the EIDL process. We know, the truth is painful.

10 EIDL UPDATES

Visit our Videos on COVID-19 EIDL Updates

Our opinions are our own. For videos on EIDL Updates, visit our YouTube playlist.

1. SBA is definitely working faster on files. We’re seeing recent Reconsiderations getting a response in thirty days or less. The response typically requests additional documents; the response isn’t necessarily an approval.

2. Once documents are submitted. SBA’s typical dysfunction kicks in and there’s silence on the file, no status updates available, NO approvals, and, too often, DECLINATIONS.

3. DECLINATIONS. We’re seeing that SBA fails time and again to actually read documents submitted for the Reconsideration process, including failure to read SBA’s OWN specialized forms (SBA Form 3501 and 3502). Also a failure to thoroughly review tax returns.

4. DECLINATIONS II. There’s a spate of declines over the past several days. Feels like SBA is “clearing the decks” again and sweeping older files over the starboard bow.

5. OLDER Reconsiderations. It’s an absolute disgrace with the lack of activity on these files. When SBA actually works on the file, there are repetitive requests for the same documents, and failure to read the documents submitted and move the file forward.

6. Once a Loan Officer signs off.  When a file is marked for approval based on the loan officer’s review, there’s a secondary review level (including legal team as far as our understanding). This secondary review seems to take weeks and there’s no response or status update in the meantime.

7. Uploading documents to SBA portal.  This is a constant nightmare: documents do not register in the system or are marked as “incorrect” when they aren’t.

8. $2M Increase requests. So far, it’s easy to request; we’ve submitted several.

9. Funding problems. Once a file is approved and the primary “authorized signor” DocuSigns the Loan Agreement, there have been delays in receiving the funds. We solved the mystery yesterday when we discovered the SBA is emailing the Loan Agreements to ALL other owners with a 20% or greater ownership interest, but the emails often go to SPAM and the primary signor is UNAWARE of this because there’s no mention (or functionality) on the SBA portal.

10. INCREASE BACKLOG. SBA has NOT cleared the backlog. We still have dozens of Client increase requests languishing in the SBA system with NO activity since APRIL.

Grab it NOW

How to Apply for an EIDL Loan

An updated sample of the EIDL application with Trevor's commentary on what changes the SBA has implemented when underwriting your EIDL loan.

The Myth of Running Credit

Credit reports is one of Trevor’s areas of special expertise after a 30 year career in the mortgage industry. 

In his experience, inquiries will impact (the correct word as per the credit bureaus) by 8 points.

Trevor has read thousands of credit reports to witness these results. 

This “myth” of credit inquiries damaging a credit score is decades in the making and is now so firmly baked into urban mythology causing us to respond to concerns, about running credit, hundreds of times.

If someone is LEGITIMATELY running your credit, having inquiries on your credit report is NOT the reason your EIDL loan is declined. READ THAT AGAIN PLEASE.

Please stop wasting valuable energy with unnecessary excuse-making and finger-pointing, and start drafting a coherent, sensible, factual statement to address your credit history.

And please start getting your financial documents in order and address any inconsistencies that could cause SBA to decline your loan. The really good loan officers try to fit your business into the guidelines to accomplish an approval but often, business owners fight the system thinking there is a conspiracy.

Be better than the SBA and own your responsibility to the process and stop worrying about HARD INQUIRIES. I promise you INQUIRIES are never the reason for a declination. It’s too often mistakes made by mistakes in their rush and disregard to tend to the details.

How to Manage Distractions for Your SBA EIDL APPROVAL

Saturday afternoon, Trevor purchased a half gallon of 2% milk for his morning coffee. He then discovered the milk was bad. When he checked the date, he saw the container was already 8 days past its “sell-by” date when he purchased it, thus making today 10 days past due.

He returned to the market, grabbed another 2% half gallon only to discover that the date was also past due. Finally, he found one that’s good for another 8 days.

When Trevor went to the counter to tell the owner, he said, “I knew it. I should always stock the milk myself.  No matter how many times I tell them, they just don’t pay attention.

He was referring to the two young men, probably teenagers, who work part-time for him. We remembered they were there the Saturday when Trevor went to the counter to pay for the first, bad, half gallon of milk. They sat off to the side and neither one had the sense to get up, come to the counter and ring Trevor out. The owner was busy at the ice cream window scooping out some of his excellent local creamery ice cream.  Trevor had to wait to pay for him to finish with his ice cream customer.

When he told Trevor about the lads not ‘paying attention’ to their work, we were reminded of the teenager we hired to split firewood on our property. We told the owner, “When they’re working here, you have to take their phones away.” Trevor went on to describe his observations of the wood-splitter at our house: “His Mom drove him up to our driveway with the wood splitter on a trailer attached to her car.  Then, later, I saw him split two pieces of wood, then take his phone out of his pocket, spend five minutes messaging, then split two pieces of wood, then the phone would come out of the pocket, and so on.

Before you think we’re just old curmudgeons who disregard a teenagers’ work ethic, let’s describe some of the same behaviors we’ve discovered in our clients.

Thanks to COVID-19, our little financing practice morphed into assisting small business owners with the Federal Government’s disaster assistance from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) known as Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL). Working on an SBA loan application is, in the best of times, a daunting and complicated process. 

The paperwork is complicated and lengthy, and the bureaucracy is fraught with all kinds of systemic incompetence.  All of these features have been exponentially made worse by the overwhelming need for this program due to the pandemic.

Our clients run the gamut from “gig-worker” self-employed sole proprietors to owners of businesses that generate multi-millions in annual revenue; age ranges from 20-somethings to folks my age (60) and older.

Trevor was a mortgage loan officer for 30 years. He learned early on that the key to getting any loan application approved was paying attention to details, especially those that may appear to be inconsequential. He worked mostly on government mortgage loans in his career; which presented a solid preparation for working on these SBA government loans now. And the most important lesson, about those otherwise minor details, comes to bear every single day.

Most of our clients have applied for the SBA loan and have been declined. So our job is to review their documents and their applications and “fix” whatever was wrong that caused the declination in the first place. You may think these folks were all declined because they simply didn’t qualify; but that’s not how this program works, almost every applicant is eligible and qualified due to the fact the loan program is only about compensating the business for revenue lost due to the disaster—COVID-19.

We’ve discovered a terrifying aspect of our modern life: it seems everyone, of all ages, every generation, is distracted. Their distractions are causing real difficulty, personally and professionally. In almost every client file we work on, we see mistakes that range from their SBA application process to the mistakes made with their fundamental business documents or information.

Those mistakes, many of them fairly simple and functional, are causing these businesses to be delayed in getting an approved for vital this funding that, quite literally, will keep their business alive during the pandemic and beyond. When we discuss these errors with the clients, the responses too often point to that one disturbing word, again and again: distractions.

“I was in a hurry when I did the original application,” as an explanation why there are wild inaccuracies in their application when compared to their financial or other business documents.

Or, from the business owner who’s original business partner, absent from the business for ten years or more, recently walked into the bank and withdrew nearly $100,000 of the business’ money for himself because his name still appears on the business name and the bank account, even though our client doesn’t consider the man to be a partner at all.  Our client never took the time to visit his attorney and change the paperwork, or remove the partner’s name from the bank account. Why? Distracted with his other job, another business, his family, and, you name it.

That same local market owner had his problems with the SBA process too, notably, his inability to locate an important email from the SBA about his loan that we had submitted for him. We called him every few days to ask if he had received an email from SBA with his loan approval (all our other clients were receiving emails and I couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t). “No, nothing yet,” he’d say, to which we responded, “Did you check your SPAM folder?”

But he’s busy running a little country marketplace (with, apparently, useless employees who can’t even stack milk cartons with correct expiration dates), so it wasn’t until we got him on the phone late one afternoon when we knew the store would be quiet and we forced him to stop what he was doing and scroll through every single email, including SPAM.  And, there it was!  The SBA email from two months before, now long expired, with his loan approval.

Like the milk episode, this caused more work for us. His distractions of simply running his business kept him both from hiring competent employees (who were distracted in their own ways), training those employees, and taking the time necessary to attend to a vital funding that would dramatically have eased his economic suffering due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.

Trevor realized that he noticed this trend in the late years of his mortgage career, too. Folks who were requesting that Trevor’s bank lend them hundreds of thousands of dollars, were so distracted in their daily lives (they always had the excuse of being busy…and thus distracted.), they couldn’t find the time (or bandwidth) to pay attention enough to basic documents or questions needing to be answered to get their loans approved. This to buy their dream house.

Like the young men at the local market who are too distracted to pay attention to “sell-by” dates on the milk cartons, so many of us are distracted to the point of distress. You’re literally ruining your lives, either personally or professionally, or both, with your failure to recognize and control your distractions. These distractions are not solely the fault of our smartphones. Or even social media.  There are all kinds of static-inducing disruptions to our days.

Trevor, as a student of economics and history, he puts these distractions down to a single phenomenon, one that is (finally) getting more attention in the media. That phenomenon is directly related to money.  More specifically, earning money and the cost of living. We’ve watched this distressing trend grow from the early 1990’s, through the boom times and recession times, and especially after the global recession that resulted in 2010 from the mortgage meltdown.

People have been struggling to “catch up” with costs, and earn a decent basic living for decades; but that struggle received a new infusion of chaotic confusion after the global recession. The rich definitely got richer, none of the bankers or financing titans went to jail or paid any kind of price for causing this worldwide calamity, but the average working person today has paid, and continues to pay, the price for that more than decade old recession.

COVID-19 only exposed the brutal reality of this financial duress in the most blunt terms possible.

But, those of us who have struggled and continue to struggle, we fail to recognize this calamity. Instead, like bugs scattering when you lift a stone up, we simply go about our days, go about our business, go about “living” in a way that seems to us to be satisfactory.

Wake up.  Your distractions are killing you. You need to save your own life and you need to slow yourself down and you need to focus.

Take your pick of the things that are killing you, or will kill you, or your children: Climate change. COVID-19. Politics. Driving fast combined with distracted driving. And on and on.

We have three suggestions, or “rules” on actions you can take to reduce, and hopefully, eliminate, distractions from your life.

Rules to not be distracted:

  1. Take Care
  2. One At A Time
  3. There’s Plenty of Time

Take Care

We use this rule with our financing practice. Think of the old carpenter’s adage: “Measure twice, cut once.” That’s essentially what “Take Care” means. Whatever activity you’re undertaking, whether you’re stocking the milk cartons, preparing financial documents for your business or to buy a home, making decisions that could affect your or your children’s well-being, take the appropriate care with that process. Look at the solutions, the consequences, the pro’s and the con’s; look at the mechanism, about what it will take to accomplish whatever it is you’re doing or deciding on. Then, put all that good brain-power you just expended to work.

One At A Time

We refuse to waste time arguing, or reading about, whether or not multi-tasking is a good or bad thing. We prefer to think from the positive perspective: doing ONE thing, allocating time and energy to that one thing, and accomplishing that ONE thing, is a worthy enterprise. It works. Time and time and time again: when you’re focused on ONE thing, from spending time speaking to an elderly parent, or preparing your documents for your tax returns, or whatever task or mission you need to accomplish, large or small, when you do only the ONE thing at one time, not multiple things at the same time, your results are so much more gratifying and accurate.

This also saves time from having to go back and redo something again.

There’s Plenty of Time

We’re convinced that somehow we all have come to believe that time is running away before our very eyes and that if we don’t hurry up, we’ll miss out on something.

There’s this trend, apparently, among the younger folk, to take time for getting the most out of their young lives now. That’s why they don’t want to be trapped in jobs that are mind-sucking-soulless-energy-sapping endeavors to earn money and nothing more. A good meal with friends; rock-climbing; doing nothing for its own sake. These activities sound more like retirement, but in reverse because the people doing them are all young. It’s as if they believe they’ll run out of time.

We posit this concept: when you’re young is actually the BEST time to invest in yourself for your future, whether that’s education or earning, or any combination of the two.  Further, spend your time wisely. The time’s not running out; but YOUR time to create something good for yourself in your life is running out, because economics will catch up to you with bills you’ll have to pay, families you’ll have to clothe, house and feed, and energy that wanes as your years progress.

Embrace your life by all means; live for your moment. But do it in a way that is well-considered. Take into account that, short as all our lives are relative to the Universe at large, there’s actually plenty of time.

Distracted while writing this: We confess that, as we wrote this, we were distracted a few times. Maybe that’s part of the writing process, taking time to think, although some of the best writers in the world say you should lock yourself in a room alone with no distractions and do nothing but write. Hemingway started every one of his days that way: with no distractions and focused on his writing and we all know how that turned out for him.

We don’t believe we allow ourselves to be distracted in the ways that we see so many other people churning through their lives.  And, we can honestly say this: we have accomplished some fairly incredible things in our lives by following these three aforementioned rules. Focusing and refusing to be distracted.

We hope our little discourse didn’t distract you too much.

Break It Down

Business Financing Documents Checklist

Stop worrying about what's required when pursuing a business loan for your small business. This list will indicate what a lender, bank, SBA, etc. will want to know about you and your small business if you're looking for a business loan. These are prudent documents that help tell your small business story. Without them, it's difficult for lenders to assess you as a risk when it comes to lending your small business money. This is NOT SPECIFIC to the SBA EIDL loan.

Advice from Trevor the Loan Officer: Obey The Speed Limit!

Working on EIDL Reconsideration files for more than a year, we’ve learned the many reasons that loans have been declined and why many Small Business owners are continuing to have tremendous difficulty with the SBA EIDL process. Simply, it’s mistakes folks make when completing their EIDL original applications.

Trevor, a 30 year veteran loan officer learned long ago to take his time when completing a loan application. He also learned long ago to triple check information, cross-verify documents and account numbers, and generally, obey the speed limit.

As a result, his loan applications have a higher rate of approval, including the many EIDL applications he’s submitted since last year.

The following two examples support our theory that Small Business owners are rushing and making mistakes.   Completing your application (or any other documents you submit to SBA) isn’t going to get you the money faster than the time you take to slow down to complete the EIDL application so that it’s accurate the first time. On average, Trevor spends approximately two hours to complete an application for each one of our clients.

Here are the actual mistakes…one of dozens and dozens:

“I put an incorrect phone number on my application because I sped through it.”
“In my rush…I put the bank account number (in place) of the EIN.”

Please slow down, pay attention and review and double-check the information you are providing to the SBA. They will not contact you to verify, they simply decline.

For information about Natural Disaster EIDL vs. the COVID-19 EIDL, please visit this page for information about that distinctly different process.

How to Apply for an EIDL Loan

An updated sample of the EIDL application with Trevor's commentary on what changes the SBA has implemented when underwriting your EIDL loan.

Blue Button Strategies

Here’s our recommended strategies while you are waiting for the infamous “BLUE BUTTON” to become functional on the SBA portal for your EIDL Increase request:

Manage your anxiety. Schedule TWICE daily check-ins, once in the morning, the second in the evening.  The money’s not going anywhere, it’s not running out, and you’re not going to miss a “place in line” with millions of other EIDL applicants if you don’t submit your request within a few hours.  You can wait the day. Doing so will reduce your stress.  When you feel yourself getting stressed about not checking the BLUE BUTTON every three minutes, do the following mundane, boring, functional stuff instead:

PREPARE.  We’ve seen SBA coming back recently and requesting additional documents for the EIDL Increase requests.  YES, it’s true, we’ve seen some requests were automatically approved.  That’s the BEST CASE, obviously. Don’t assume the “BEST CASE” scenario; assume the worst case and PREPARE for the SBA request.  Here’s a list of documents we’ve seen SBA requesting to approve the EIDL Increase.  One important note: don’t assume SBA already has your documents from the list below. If they ask for it, submit it again, in an updated form (current date for your signature instead of a date from two months ago, for example).

LIST:

  • 2018 and 2019 COMPLETE Federal tax returns
  • Driver’s License: COLOR legible PDF scan front and back. If the image is blurry, do it again until it is CRYSTAL CLEAR
  • VOIDED check for the destination bank account to deposit your funds. BE SURE this is the SAME account you entered on your original EIDL application. BE SURE you don’t reverse the ROUTING number for the ACCOUNT number. Yes, we’ve seen people do that!
  • SBA Form 2202. THIS is IMPORTANT.  Have a form that is current because SBA wants to confirm if you have incurred any other debt in the name of the business entity since you applied, including existing EIDL and PPP loans or other types of financing. Remember: ONLY business debt in the name of an business entity; personal debt does not go on this form. EIDL and PPP go on the form no matter whether you are an entity or a Sole Proprietor.
  • Business Plan and Revenue Projections for 2021.  See our BLOG post about how to prepare.

Here’s what we’ve experienced at Aurora Consulting in our two plus years of assisting Small Business Owners to obtain financing, including the EIDL COVID-19 loans and PPP loans:

  1. Small Business Owners don’t want to be bothered with the basic building blocks that are boring
  2. They don’t want to take the boring time to write boring business plans
  3. They don’t want to take on the mundane task of doing some basic fifth grade math to calculate income and expenses
  4. They don’t want to bore themselves to tears by spending time organizing basic documents into a neat and orderly and presentable fashion

Maybe YOU are NOT in this bucket. GOOD.

Much of what we do at Aurora Consulting is to shepherd our clients through these basic and boring tasks.  Here’s the problem: BORING leads to financing success.

Eliminate your stress about the BLUE BUTTON by BORING yourself.  It’s much simpler than you think.