Press release submitted by the Bradford County Commissioners
In light of our recent denial for Individual Assistance declaration from the Federal Government, we have been working hard to find other viable solutions for the residents of Bradford County. We just received word that we have been approved for Small Business Administration (SBA) Disaster Loan Assistance. This is an option for all homeowners as well as businesses that were affected by the flooding between the dates of August 10-15, 2018. SBA provides low-interest disaster loans to businesses of all sizes, private non-profit organizations, homeowners, and renters. SBA disaster loans can be used to repair or replace the following items damaged or destroyed in a declared disaster: real estate, personal property, machinery and equipment, and inventory and business assets. The amount SBA will lend depends on the cost of repairing or replacing your business and business contents or home and personal property, minus any insurance settlements or grants. SBA may send an inspector to estimate the cost of your damage once you have submitted your loan application. Renters and homeowners alike may borrow up to $40,000 to repair or replace personal property. Homeowners may apply for up to $200,000 to repair or replace their disaster damaged residence. Businesses of all sizes may apply for a Physical Disaster Loan and small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives and private non-profit organizations may be eligible for economic injury. These loans could not exceed $2 million to repair or replace damaged property or economic injury. SBA can also lend additional funds up to 20 percent of the verified losses to help make improvement to the property (both real and contents) that protect, prevent or minimize the same type of disaster damage from occurring in the future (mitigation). The qualification to apply for SBA are based on an individual’s ability to repay the loan amount requested in correlation to their disposable income. This is not necessarily dependent on your credit score, in fact the lower your credit score and the higher your disposable income, the lower your interest rate will be.
Another option if you do not qualify for the SBA loans is the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development loans or grants. USDA Rural Development operates over fifty financial assistance programs for a variety of rural applications. These services range from grants and loans for farmers, business & industry including nonprofits, utilities, to single and multiple family housing.
USDA’s Single Family Housing Repair Loans and Grants, also known as the Section 504 Home Repair program, provides loans to very-low-income homeowners to repair, improve or modernize their homes or grants to elderly very-low-income homeowners to remove health and safety hazards. To qualify, you must: be the homeowner and occupy the house, be unable to obtain affordable credit elsewhere, have a family income below 50 percent of the area median income ($31,650 for 1-4 person home & 41,800 for 5-8 person home), for grants, be age 62 or older and not be able to repay a repair loan. The maximum loan is $20,000 while the maximum grant is $7,500 and can be combined for up to $27,500 in assistance with an interest rate at 1% over 20 years.
If you would like additional information on either program please see below:
SBA:
Visit the Fairfield Inn By Marriott
1248 Gold Mile Road
Towanda, PA 18848
Thursday December 13, 2018 @ 11am -Thursday, December 20th @ 4pm. Saturday hours will be 10am – 2pm and Friday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday hours will be 9am – 6pm.
https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/Information/ApplyOnline
USDA:
Visit the Towanda Fire Hall
101 Elm Street
Towanda, PA 18848
Thursday December 27, 2018 @ 10 am.