Eligibility criteria
The SBA provides EIDL assistance only to those businesses we determine are unable to obtain credit elsewhere. You may request an EIDL for the amount of economic injury and operating needs, but not in excess of what your business could have paid had the disaster not occurred. In determining your eligible amount, the SBA will look at the total of your debt obligations, operating expenses that mature during the period affected by the disaster, plus the amount you need to maintain a reasonable working capital position during that period, and expenses you could have met and a working capital position you could have maintained had the disaster not occurred.

The amount of your economic injury does not automatically represent the dollar amount of your loan eligibility; the SBA will evaluate the information you provide and determine the reasonableness of your loan request.

Description
If your small business has suffered substantial economic injury, regardless of physical damage, and is located in a declared disaster area, you may be eligible for financial assistance from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Small businesses and small agricultural cooperatives that have suffered substantial economic injury resulting from a physical disaster or an agricultural production disaster designated by the Secretary of Agriculture may be eligible for the SBA's Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program. Substantial economic injury is the inability of a business to meet its obligations as they mature and to pay its ordinary and necessary operating expenses. An EIDL can help you meet necessary financial obligations that your business could have met had the disaster not occurred. It provides relief from economic injury caused directly by the disaster and permits you to maintain a reasonable working capital position during the period affected by the disaster.

Managing organization
U.S. Small Business Administration http://www.sba.gov/

Program contact information & web resources
For more information about this program, please visit:
http://www.sba.gov/disaster_recov/loaninfo/ecoinjury.html