S.B.A. Approves Over $93 Million in Disaster Loans

Garden State residents who sustained damage or were utterly devastated by Superstorm Sandy are getting the money they need to help them rebuild through the U.S. Small Business Administration.

S.B.A. Spokesman Mark Jamison says as of the close of business on Dec. 17, 2012, the S.B.A. approved 1,306 low-interest disaster home loans and 97 disaster business and economic injury loans for a total of $92,823,600.00.

Jamison says the S.B.A. Disaster Assistance Loans cover a wide range of folks who were impacted by the Superstorm. He says "people who were renters and lost their contents, people who were homeowners and they have flood insurance, private nonprofits that have sustained physical damage or that have a loss of their income streams because of Superstorm Sandy, businesses of any size for their physical losses."

He also advises that if you receive the application, to fill it out and get it into them right away without waiting to hear from your insurance company about a settlement or if you'll be getting an award from FEMA. "Don't wait for insurance to possibly come up short before applying to S.B.A. because then you're again a month behind, whereas if you apply now then we can get started on seeing what we can do for you." He says in most cases they can loan you the entire amount for the damages before you receive an insurance settlement. He says the application process allows you to pay off the S.B.A. loan with the settlement money.

He also says upon review of your loan application you may be eligible for other FEMA programs but they can't determine that unless they get your application.

Jamison says help is available to answer questions or to fill out S.B.A. loan applications at anyone of the FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers set up around the state. He says they'll usually stay open as long as there's a demand.

Much like FEMA, the S.B.A also extended its loan application deadline to January 30th.

You can apply on line at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela or applications can be downloaded from www.sba.gov. For more information, call 800-659-2955 or for TTY, call 800-877-8339