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SBA COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL)
2020–2021· Asset or instrument
Fact, law or dataA rule, statute, definition or measured number.
Direct low-rate SBA loans and grants for businesses hurt by COVID, made in 2020–21 and still being repaid or collected.
See it on the Money & Finance map →How it works
Under the March 2020 CARES Act, the SBA lent directly, with no bank in the middle: 3.75% fixed (2.75% for nonprofits) for 30 years, first payments deferred 30 months. Loans were first capped at $150,000; the cap reached $2 million in late 2021. Loans over $25,000 took a blanket lien on business assets, and over $200,000 a personal guarantee from 20% owners. The SBA approved over 3.9 million loans totaling about $378 billion, plus about $27 billion in grants, before closing applications January 1, 2022.
Why it matters
It kept millions of small firms afloat, but its lien and guarantee can complicate later refinancing, and the SBA had charged off about $75 billion by mid-2025.
Facts, rules and data
The CARES Act and later relief laws, SBA program data, Congressional Research Service reports (updated 2026), and SBA inspector-general audits of fraud and losses.
Debates and risks
How much of the charged-off balance is fraud versus honest business failure, and how far the SBA's 2026 referrals to Treasury and Justice will recover it, is unclear.
Connections (2)
▸SBA COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) were an emergency lifeline during COVID-19 crash and rescue (2020)Fact, law or data
The connection
When lockdowns shut many businesses in March 2020, the CARES Act opened the SBA's disaster-loan program to the whole country. The SBA lent directly at 3.75% for 30 years with long deferrals, and added grants of up to $10,000, getting cash to millions of firms within weeks.
When and why
Across the US from late March 2020 through 2021; the SBA stopped taking new applications on January 1, 2022.
How we know
The CARES Act text, SBA program data, and Congressional Research Service reports on the program's size and terms.
Debates and risks
How many firms survived because of EIDL rather than PPP or other aid is hard to separate in the data.
▸SBA COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) were heavily targeted by Pandemic aid fraud: PPP and unemploymentFact, law or data
The connection
To lend fast, the SBA relied on applicants' own statements about revenue and employees and skipped normal checks. Fraudsters invented businesses and used stolen identities. The SBA inspector general estimated about $136 billion of EIDL loans and grants were potentially fraudulent, more than in PPP.
When and why
Nationwide in 2020–22, including organized rings; thousands of federal prosecutions followed, helped by a ten-year charging deadline set in 2022.
How we know
SBA inspector-general reports, notably June 2023, GAO audits, and Justice Department prosecutions.
Debates and risks
Estimates mix fraud with error, and how much of the charged-off balance was fraud rather than failed businesses is unknown.