Small businesses in Indiana may now be eligible to receive new interest-free loans through a program created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The America’s Recovery Capital (ARC) program offers loans of $35,000 to firms that demonstrate immediate financial hardship. The funds must be used to pay down existing debt. The loans will be available through Sept. 30, 2010, or until appropriated funding runs out.
To qualify for the ARC loans, small firms must demonstrate they are experiencing immediate financial hardship due to the economic downturn, but are otherwise deemed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) to be viable. The loans will be made by commercial lenders and can be used for payments of principal and interest for existing, qualifying small business debts like credit card obligations, mortgages, lines of credit, and balances due to suppliers, vendors, and utilities.
To apply for ARC loans, businesses should visit their local SBA-approved small business lenders. The loans will be available through Sept. 30, 2010, or until appropriated funding runs out. Additional information about the ARC loan program is available at http://www.sba.gov/recovery/arcloanprogram/index.html.
In addition to the ARC loan program, the ARRA contained other measures aimed at helping small firms access credit. For instance, the new law increases the percentage of a loan that the SBA can guarantee, makes SBA-backed loans more affordable and provides tools to unfreeze the small business credit markets, helping small companies access capital at affordable rates.
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