Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Deadline for SBA loans to recover from tornado damage is March 14

SBA spokesman Michael Lampton, left, and Kentucky District Director, Robert Coffey were among SBA officials in Bowling Green, Kentucky on Feb. 23 to encourage renters, homeowners and businesses to apply for low-interest disaster loans to help with recovery from the December tornadoes.
Rhonda J. Miller
SBA spokesman Michael Lampton, left, and Kentucky District Director Robert Coffey were among SBA officials in Bowling Green on Feb. 23 to encourage renters, homeowners and businesses to apply for low-interest disaster loans to help with recovery from the December tornadoes.

Officials from the U.S. Small Business Administration were in Bowling Green, Kentucky on Wednesday to remind Kentucky residents who lost homes or other personal property in the December tornadoes that they do not have to be a business to apply for financial assistance from the SBA.

The deadline to apply for low-interest loans is March 14.

The loans are part of the federal effort to help those recovering from the December tornadoes that ravaged communities across Kentucky.

SBA spokesman Michael Lampton said loans are available to homeowners and renters at an interest rate of 1.4 percent.

“From a personal property standpoint, your car, your furniture, your computers, things like that, all of that would be eligible,” said Lampton. “We can loan up to $40,000 for personal property items that many have been damaged or lost.”

Lampton said the lending limit for businesses is $2 million, with an interest rate of 2.8 percent.

SBA loans can be for a term as long as 30 years.

SBA District Director for Kentucky Robert Coffey said people can apply online, or come into the disaster recovery centers across the state and get assistance in person.

“The individual you talk to will be involved in helping you get what you need to fill out the application. So from that sense, it’s not difficult at all,” said Coffey. “There’s an understanding that you may not have certain documents, but there are ways of getting those documents. The important thing is to apply.”

So far, the SBA has approved $40 million in loans to Kentucky businesses, homeowners and renters. In Warren County, the SBA has approved nearly $8 million in low-interest loans.

SBA representatives are in tornado impacted areas across Kentucky. In Bowling Green, the SBA is at the Disaster Recovery Center in the former Sears store at Greenwood Mall.

SBA locations have interpreters in the languages of area residents to help people fill out applications.