EIDL Class Action Lawsuit against SBA | Opinion: Who’s to Blame

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Four years ago, Congress passed the COVID CARES Act.  The legislation tasked the smallest of federal agencies–the US Small Business Administration–with the one of the BIGGEST MISSIONS in American history: the distribution of massive amounts of funding to the American Small Business community.

With uncertainty over the depth and length of the pandemic, including lockdowns, many Small Business Owners found salvation through the monies distributed by SBA during the pandemic, including the COVID-19 EIDL program.

SBA based its COVID-19 EIDL program on its long-existing natural disaster loan program, a lending directive in place since 1953 to provide Small Businesses with low-cost loans to repair physical damage or make up for lost revenue as a result of a natural disaster like a hurricane, tornado, drought or wildfire (among many other types of disasters).

Four-Million Small Businesses received COVID-19 EIDL funding, some in multiple and increasing increments.  Many of these same Small Businesses had never funded their businesses with debt financing before, so the lending process, including application, distribution and repayment responsibilities were all new concepts to these business owners.

We have seen since that time how many folks seem to have “short-term memory loss” when it comes to the terrible economic ravages of the pandemic. We also see the other side of the coin with folks retaining vivid memories of the impossible process of obtaining the pandemic funds from SBA due to overly-complicated procedures, poor communications, and other systemic failures of this tiny federal agency. 

Many businesses never received any funding at all, or, if they did, the funding was insufficient to provide the relief intended by Congress.

We know that many people today, those with that “short-term” memory problem, often say, “I never wanted this COVID-19 loan. The government should have given me this money for free. Now I’ve got a loan I’m having a problem paying it back and the SBA…and the SBA…and the SBA…and…and…AND.”

We respond, saying, “Yes you’re right the SBA has a lot of difficulties but the SBA was charged with a mission during the pandemic by the Congress of the United States and they delivered on the mission. SBA accomplished the goal: they put money into your hands and into the American economy to get the economy on track during a pandemic.“

While we’re all blaming the SBA and complaining about the SBA and getting upset with the SBA, we’re forgetting that it’s the people in Congress who have let you down.

The Congress controls the purse strings of the US Treasury. And Congress has failed the SBA, and by extension, the American Small Business Owner, by failing to properly fund the SBA.

Congress has not reauthorized the SBA in over 20 years.  In 2023, by contrast, Congress reauthorized the Federal Aviation Administration as they do with other federal agencies from time to time. Congress gave the FAA a substantial increase in funding to hire new air traffic controllers and implement new technologies to keep us safe in the skies.

But what about you small business owners?

Congress has not reauthorized the SBA in over two decades and between natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina,  Superstorm Sandy, wildfires in Maui and California, and many other disasters across the United States, the SBA can barely keep up.

Never mind that SBA is tasked with collecting the repayments on those 4 Million EIDLs from the pandemic.

The SBA in our opinion is underfunded, overworked, and overwhelmed.

SBA today has a huge mission to deliver on with minimal resources thanks to Congress’ failure to properly fund the agency.  

Next time, take a moment before you get upset with the SBA. Take the approach that we take when dealing with them: take a deep breath, find a few ounces of extra patience, and understand that you’re dealing with a bureaucracy and there is a procedure and a process for everything, yet the agency is working stretched to the limit.  

If you follow that advice, then,  yes it’s going to feel frustrating but you’re going to have a better comprehension that SBA’s failures can be repaired by Congress.

Contact your political representative as a Small Business Owner CONSTITUENT and tell your congresspeople to get SBA more money.

In the meantime when you deal with the SBA, try to have a little more patience and a little more charity because those folks do have good intentions and they are trying to do their best for you, in our experience.

We created our “SBA COVID-19 EIDL Guidebook” as a comprehensive resource for you and managing your COVID-19 EIDL.  

We discuss everything from “Hardship Accommodation” to best practices for repayment to closing your business or changing ownership and so much more.

You can purchase your copy of the guide by CLICKING HERE

You get FREE updates through December 2024 when you purchase now. And updates are coming to include expanded Hardship instruction and Treasury Dispute process and strategy.

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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.

PROACTIVE & PREPARED   Get our list of documents we know Lenders & SBA ask for. These are also good to have handy at all time as a standard practice in business.