In 2020, the U.S. Small Business Administration and U.S. Treasury expanded the Emergency Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program as part of The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security or CARES Act. Now, 30 months after these initial loans were disbursed to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars, payments are scheduled to begin.
What should you expect? As a borrower, here are tips and answers to your most common questions about loan repayment.
What to know about your EIDL repayment:
- Loan forgiveness? The EIDL loan is not going to be forgiven. We have heard from several borrowers asking how they can apply for EIDL loan forgiveness. Unlike the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), EIDL loan forgiveness simply doesn’t exist.
- Where am I receiving my repayment information? All Emergency Injury Disaster Loan recipients received an email from The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) with the subject line: Important EIDL Reminder. Please do not delete this email. It contains important information regarding your EIDL account setup and payment. You will likely need to flag it for future use.
- Repayment schedule? Every business owner must start making their monthly payments on their due date. This due date is determined by the “Effective Date” noted on your business’s promissory note. To determine your loan schedule, please see repayment information below.
How do I pay my EIDL loan/s?
There are two separate platforms you will need to access your loan information and pay your loan balance:
CAFS:
- Capital Access Financial System (CAFS) maintains your EIDL & PPP loan information. This includes your original balance, interest, accrued interest balance, and so on.
- To obtain the EIDL loan information for your business, please select ‘EIDL’ and then ‘borrower search’ from the menu options.
- When registering on the CAFS website, carefully follow each step. There is no room for error when using this system. You will find yourself repeating the registration process over and over again if you aren’t thorough and accurate when inputting your information.
pay.gov:
- pay.gov allows businesses to input their bank information and to set up recurring payments online.
- Inside your profile, choose ‘Make a SBA 1201 Borrower Payment’ as the menu option.
- While registering on pay.gov may be simpler than registering on CAFS, it is not easy to change bank account information after you begin your loan payments. You will be required to cancel the payment process and re-enter all your personal and financial information when changing bank accounts on pay.gov. It is worth confirming what account will service your loan payoff before tying that information to the platform.
Repayment policy:
- Your first payment is due 30 months from the first loan date (noted as the “Effective Date” on the promissory note).
- Where is my loan date? Locate the “Effective Date” at the top of the second page of the promissory note. [Note: Loan Mantra business owners may securely access their promissory notes through their portals on Loan Mantra].
- SBA vs. EIDL loan number? Remember that your SBA loan number is different than your EIDL loan number. Again, this information can be found on the top of the second page of the promissory note.
- Interest? Yes, the accrued interest number on your CAFS portal is correct. Many business owners received their first EIDL loan in early 2020 and a second EIDL loan in 2021. For a majority of borrowers, interest has been accruing for more than 24 months with additional interest for more than 16 months. Borrowers are responsible for paying back any and all accrued interest.
Don’t be idle. We want you to do what you do best: run your business and do it well. That’s why we, at Loan Mantra, provide practical tips for the modern business owner. Loan Mantra improves the future of human entrepreneurship through best-in-class technology, financial literacy, & commitment to equitable market access.