Lincoln County, NM (July 11, 2012): The Small Business Administration Disaster Relief Team is Here! They have set up an office here at the Little Bear Recovery Center on Hwy 48 1.75 miles North of the Hwy 37 cutoff. Please come by and register with them if you have had any sort of loss of personal property or any kind of business loss as a result of the damage caused by the Little Bear Fire incident.

The SBA is available Monday – Friday from 9am – 5:30pm at the Little Bear Recovery Center. The SBA will be here in person until the close of the business day on Thursday, July 26th, 2012.

GETTING DISASTER HELP FROM SBA: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

• SBA offers low-interest disaster loans to homeowners, renters, businesses of all sizes and private, non-profit organizations.
• SBA disaster loans are the primary source of money to pay for repair or replacement costs not fully covered by insurance or other compensation.
• Homeowners may borrow up to $200,000 to repair or replace their primary residence.
• Homeowners and renters may borrow up to $40,000 to replace personal property.
• Businesses may borrow up to $2 million for any combination of property damage or economic injury.
• SBA offers low-interest working capital loans (called Economic Injury Disaster Loans) to small businesses and most private, non-profit organizations of all sizes having difficulty meeting obligations as a result of the disaster.

SBA Will only be on site at the Recovery Center Until Thursday, July 26. The easiest way to sign up is with them in person, so please come by and take advantage of this opportunity. If you miss them in person, you can still apply by September 7th, 2012 for Physical Damages and April 9th, 2013 for Economic Injury by phone or over the internet. See below for details. But don’t wait, apply now!

THREE WAYS TO APPLY TO SBA

• Apply in person at any Disaster Loan Outreach Center and receive personal, one-on-one help from an SBA representative. For information or to find a location near you, call SBA at (800) 659-2955 or visit our website at: http://www.sba.gov/content/current-disaster-declarations. Individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing may call (800) 877-8339.
• You may apply online using the Electronic Loan Application (ELA) via SBA’s secure Web site at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela.
• You may complete a paper application and mail it to SBA at: 14925 Kingsport Rd., Ft. Worth, TX 76155-2243.

IMPORTANT NOTE TO SURVIVORS: The SBA Loan Process is the first step for many other types of financial assistance that will be available. If you do not apply with them, you may not be able to apply with other entities and funding sources. So please take a few minutes and do this application process. You don’t have to use any part of the loan if you are accepted.

For more detailed facts about the SBA, please refer to this fact sheet: SBA Fact Sheet