NOVEMBER 2, 2009

LOW INTEREST LOANS AVAIL= ABLE FOR JULY’S STORMS

Application deadline is December 1

Relief is in sight but home and small business owners = 211; even renters and non-profit organizations – may not know about it.

Wes= tchester County residents and small bus= iness owners who suffered damage as a result of last July’s storms can stil= l apply for low-interest disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The first deadline for applications is December 1.

The SBA last month declared Ne= w York State – including Yonkers, Mt. Vernon and certain areas in the southern Westchester – a disaster area as a result of = the severe storms, straight-line winds and flooding that occurred on July 6 and 7.&nbs= p; This disaster declaration by the SBA makes Westchester County<= /st1:PlaceType> residents and businesses in those areas hit by the storm eligible for assistance with low-interest loans. The SBA has reached out to Westchester County’s Department of Emerg= ency Services department for help in getting the word out.

Cou= nty Executive Andy Spano said, “There are still many business and home owners who don’t know a= bout this assistance from the SBA. I would urge anyone who thinks that they might qualify to apply before Decemb= er 1.”

For business owners, the SBA has two types of loans. The first – an economic inju= ry loan – provides working capital to assist eligible businesses to reco= ver from losses caused by the July 6-7 storms. The second – a p= hysical disaster loan – covers the cost of repairing or replacing damaged real estate, equipment, inventory and fixtures. The amount of these loans = may be increased by as much as 20 percent of the cost of recovery in order to better protect the property against future disasters of this type. Homeowners and renters in Westchester County affected by = the storms may also apply for the second type of loan – the physical disa= ster loan – to pay recovery costs not covered by insurance.

The application deadline for the physical damage disaster loans is December 1 and the application deadline for filing the economic in= jury loans is July 2.

For those who either don’t have the money or are un= able to be approved for loans from non-government lenders, the interest rate for home-owners is 2.437 percent and for business-owners and non-profit organizations 4 percent. The = rates are slightly higher – from 4.875 to 6 percent – for those who do have available credit elsewhere.

For more information, Westches= ter County residents and businesses = can call the SBA <= st1:PlaceName w:st=3D"on">Disaster Assistance= Customer Service Center at (800) 659= -2955 or email them at disastercustomer@sba.gov and visit www.sba.gov/services/disasterassi= stance.