Interest rate and maximum loan amount vary. The maximum loan length is 10 months, with no prepayment penalties and a payment frequency of once.

Loan repayment periods for both direct and guaranteed farm operating loans cannot exceed 7 years. Loans for annual operating expenses are normally repaid within one year. Loans for equipment and livestock purchases are scheduled for repayment over longer periods, but cannot exceed 7 years. Interest rates for direct operating loans are based on the Government's cost of funds. FSA offers lower resource interest rates to direct loan applicants who cannot afford the Agency's regular interest rate. Interest rates for guaranteed operating loans are negotiated by the lender and farmer. However, the lender must not charge the guaranteed loan customer a higher interest rate than they charge their average farm loan customer. In some cases, FSA can pay 4% of the interest rate for farmers who cannot afford the lender's normal interest rate. For most guaranteed loans, FSA charges an origination fee equal to one percent of the guarantee.

Applicants must have enough money to repay the loan and enough collateral to fully secure it. Other eligibility criteria apply and can be found on the Farm Service Agency website or by contacting FSA directly.

All applicants must be eligible to be considered for a 7(a) loan. The eligibility requirements are designed to be as broad as possible in order that this lending program can accommodate the most diverse variety of small business financing needs. All businesses that are considered for financing under SBA's 7(a) loan program must: meet SBA size standards, be for-profit, not already have the internal resources (business or personal) to provide the financing, and be able to demonstrate repayment. Certain variations of SBA's 7(a) loan program may also require additional eligibility criteria. Special purpose programs will identify those additional criteria.

The interest rate is pegged to an increment above five and 10 year Treasury Issues. The length of the loan can be either 10 or 20 years. The maximum loan amount is general $1million, but can be $1.3 million for public policy goals.

The SBA provides EIDL assistance only to those businesses we determine are unable to obtain credit elsewhere. You may request an EIDL for the amount of economic injury and operating needs, but not in excess of what your business could have paid had the disaster not occurred. In determining your eligible amount, the SBA will look at the total of your debt obligations, operating expenses that mature during the period affected by the disaster, plus the amount you need to maintain a reasonable working capital position during that period, and expenses you could have met and a working capital position you could have maintained had the disaster not occurred.

The SBA provides EIDL assistance only to those businesses we determine are unable to obtain credit elsewhere. You may request an EIDL for the amount of economic injury and operating needs, but not in excess of what your business could have paid had the disaster not occurred. In determining your eligible amount, the SBA will look at the total of your debt obligations, operating expenses that mature during the period affected by the disaster, plus the amount you need to maintain a reasonable working capital position during that period, and expenses you could have met and a working capital position you could have maintained had the disaster not occurred.

The repayment period for emergency loans is based on the type of loss and the applicant's repayment ability. In most cases, loans for annual operating expenses must be repaid within 12 months, and loans for losses to equipment, livestock, machinery, etc. cannot exceed 7 years. The loan term for losses to real estate cannot exceed 40 years. The interest rate for emergency loans is 3.75%.

The interest rate is no more than 8% for applicants that can obtain credit elsewhere; no more than 4% for applicants that can not get credit elsewhere.

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