SBA disaster loans run backwards from every other SBA program on this site: the SBA lends the money directly, there is no bank, and you can only apply after a disaster is declared where your business sits. This page covers the standing program as a system — the two loan tracks, the permanent deadline mechanics, the credit-elsewhere test — and then, separately, the question most readers actually arrive with in 2026: how the closed COVID EIDL loan book is serviced today, now that the relief program most pages still describe has ended. One clarification before the details: FEMA grants are a different agency’s program for different losses; nothing below is FEMA money.
General information, not financial advice. Program mechanics are from 13 CFR Part 123 and SBA program pages; interest rates and filing deadlines for any specific disaster are set in that disaster’s declaration notice — always confirm against the current declaration.
A disaster loan exists only after a declaration — a Presidential declaration, an SBA Administrator’s declaration, or, for drought-related EIDL, a Secretary of Agriculture designation. Only businesses located in the declared area and its contiguous counties may apply, and the SBA publishes each declaration in the Federal Register with its filing deadlines. Applications go through the SBA itself: the disaster loan portal (MySBA Loan Portal), a Disaster Recovery Center, by mail, or by phone at 800-659-2955. Eligibility rules for disaster loans sit in their own regulation, 13 CFR Part 123 — a separate rulebook from the 7(a) program, with its own standards.
Businesses of any size — and most private nonprofits — can borrow up to $2 million to repair or replace real property, machinery and equipment, inventory, and leasehold improvements damaged by the declared disaster. An additional amount of up to 20% of the verified physical loss may be available for mitigation measures that protect the property against the same kind of disaster recurring.
Filing deadline: 60 days from the declaration date. This is the deadline people miss, and it is a program constant, not news — when a declaration lands, the physical-damage clock is already running.
For physical loans, the credit-elsewhere test sets your price rather than your eligibility. Rates are fixed per disaster by a statutory formula published in the declaration notice — historically capped at 4% for borrowers who cannot obtain credit elsewhere and 8% for those who can. Treat those caps as the mechanism’s historical frame and verify the figures in your disaster’s actual notice; do not take rate numbers from any explainer page, including pages written during COVID.
EIDL is the working-capital track: small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small aquaculture businesses, and most private nonprofits can borrow to pay obligations they could have met if the disaster had not occurred — payroll, rent, fixed debts — until normal operations resume. The cap is $2 million, and it is a combined cap: physical and economic injury loans to the same business together cannot exceed it.
Filing deadline: 9 months from the declaration date — longer than the physical track, because economic injury takes longer to document.
The eligibility gate is the credit-elsewhere test: EIDL is available only when the SBA determines the applicant is unable to obtain credit elsewhere. If a bank would lend to you on reasonable terms, EIDL is not open to you, whatever the disaster cost your business.
Terms common to both tracks: repayment terms run up to 30 years, set by repayment ability. Loans over $25,000 must be secured to the extent possible — but the SBA will not decline a loan solely for lack of collateral; available collateral must be pledged. Disaster loans carry no prepayment penalty. Reservists whose essential employee is called to active duty have a separate working-capital variant, MREIDL — that material lives on our business loans for veterans page.
The COVID EIDL program stopped accepting new applications in 2022. What remains is one of the largest loan books the SBA has ever serviced: roughly 3.9 million loans totaling about $389 billion (Congressional Research Service). Its terms are fixed history: 30 years at 3.75% for businesses and 2.75% for nonprofits, payments deferred 30 months from the note date, collateral required above $25,000, and a personal guarantee required above $200,000 — loans at or below $200,000 carried no personal guarantee, a fact borrowers still get wrong in both directions. COVID EIDL is not forgivable; unlike PPP, every dollar is a loan that must be repaid.
Servicing runs through the MySBA Loan Portal for most actions, and the COVID EIDL Servicing Center (833-853-5638; CESC@sba.gov) for larger loans and servicing decisions. Now the fact that outdated pages get wrong: the Hardship Accommodation Plan ended on March 19, 2025. New enrollments in the “pay 10% for six months” plan are closed; borrowers already enrolled finish their current term, and no one new can join. The assistance available today is narrower: an eligible COVID EIDL borrower may reduce payments by 50% for six months, once every five years — the loan must be less than 90 days past due, the business must be open and operating, and there must be no active bankruptcy. Interest continues to accrue during any reduction, and because COVID balances were deferred for 30 months at the start, a reduced-payment stretch can leave a balloon at maturity — plan for the end of the loan, not just the next six months. If a loan does default, the path is charge-off and referral to the Treasury for collection: unglamorous, mechanical, and worth avoiding while the 50% option is still reachable.
How do I apply for an SBA disaster loan? Directly with the SBA — disaster loans are not made through banks. After a declaration covering your business’s location, apply through the MySBA Loan Portal, at a Disaster Recovery Center, by mail, or by phone at 800-659-2955. Watch the deadlines in the declaration notice: 60 days for physical damage loans, 9 months for EIDL.
What is the difference between a physical disaster loan and an EIDL? A physical disaster loan (any business size, up to $2 million) repairs or replaces damaged property, equipment, inventory and leasehold improvements, plus up to 20% more for mitigation. An EIDL (small businesses only) provides working capital to pay obligations the disaster interrupted. The $2 million cap is combined across both, and EIDL additionally requires that you be unable to obtain credit elsewhere.
Can I still apply for a COVID EIDL? No. The COVID EIDL program stopped accepting new applications in 2022. The roughly 3.9 million loans already made are being serviced — through the MySBA Loan Portal and the COVID EIDL Servicing Center — but no new COVID EIDL money exists to apply for. New disaster borrowing requires a current disaster declaration where your business is located.
What if I can’t make my COVID EIDL payments? The old Hardship Accommodation Plan ended March 19, 2025. The current relief is a 50% payment reduction for six months, available once every five years if your loan is less than 90 days past due, your business is open and operating, and you are not in active bankruptcy. Interest keeps accruing during the reduction. Contact the COVID EIDL Servicing Center (833-853-5638) before you fall behind rather than after — the eligibility window depends on it.
General information, not financial advice. Sources: 13 CFR Part 123; SBA.gov disaster assistance and COVID-era program pages; Congressional Research Service reports R44412 and R47509. Currency verified 2026-10-23.