What Can Florida EIDL Loans Be Used For?

Florida businesses have been approved for billions in Florida Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) by the The Small Business Administration (SBA).

You can use the Florida EIDL loan you receive through the SBA’s EIDL program to cover day-to-day activities in your Florida business without paying high interest rates.

It is important to be aware of a few important restrictions on Florida EIDL before you begin spending the funds.

Florida Economic Injury Disaster Loans

If you have suffered substantial economic injury and are one of the following types of businesses located in a Florida declared disaster area, you may be eligible for a SBA EIDL:

  • Florida small business.
  • Florida small agricultural cooperative.
  • Florida most private nonprofit organizations.

Florida EIDL Loan Eligibility

  • Substantial economic injury means the Florida business is unable to meet its obligations and pay its ordinary and necessary operating expenses.
  • Florida EIDL provides the necessary working capital to help small businesses impacted by a disaster survive until normal operations resume.  
  • Florida EIDL assistance is available only to small businesses when SBA determines they are unable to obtain credit elsewhere.

Florida SBA can provide up to $2 million* to help meet financial obligations and operating expenses that could have been met had the disaster not occurred. The loan amount will be based on your actual economic injury and your Florida company’s financial needs, regardless of whether the business suffered any property damage.

A Florida business may qualify for, both, an EIDL and a physical disaster loan.

Florida EIDL Loan Approval Process

Florida has approved 480,612 EIDL applications totaling $32,050,239,051 in SBA EIDL loans.

The U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program is a federal small business loan program that financially supports Florida small businesses’ economic injury recovery from a natural disaster or from the COVID-19 disaster affecting Florida businesses.

Learn more about the Florida EIDL Loan Approval Process. You can still apply for the Florida ERC tax credit, even if you received an EIDL loan.

What Can Florida EIDL Loans Be Used For?

Florida EIDL loans may be used to provide working capital necessary for business operations, as well as for expenditures needed to mitigate the effects of a pandemic.

Spending and debts in this category include working capital, prior business debt (for example, mortgages and credit card debts) payroll, continuation of health care benefits, rent, maintenance, utilities, and fixed debt payments. Expanding a Florida business cannot be done with EIDL loans.

A loan from the Florida EIDL may be used to fund renovations that have already been completed, but cannot be used to expand the business or repay debt owed to a federal agency.

Borrowers may use EIDL working capital loan proceeds to make regular payments for operating expenses and to:

  • Pay or prepay Florida business non-federal debt incurred at any time (past or future), including monthly payments, payments of deferred interest;
  • Pay regularly scheduled payments on federal debt;
  • Payroll;
  • Rent/mortgage;
  • Utilities; and
  • Other ordinary Florida business expenses.

How Florida EIDL Can’t Be Used?

There are different ways that you clearly cannot use disaster loan proceeds and these are included under the section that includes ineligible use of proceeds:  

Florida EIDL proceeds may not be used for: 

  1. Payment of any dividends or bonuses; 
  2. Disbursements to Florida owners, partners, officers, directors, or stockholders, except when directly related to performance of services for the benefit of the applicant;
  3. Repayment of stockholder / principal loans, except when the funds were injected on an interim basis as a result of the disaster and non-repayment would cause undue hardship to the stockholder/principal; 
  4. Expansion of facilities or acquisition of fixed assets; 
  5. Repair or replacement of physical damages; 
  6. Refinancing long term debt; 
  7. Paying down (including regular installment payments) or paying off loans provided, or owned by another Federal agency (including SBA) or a Small Business Investment Company licensed under the Small Business Investment Act. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is not considered a Federal agency for this purpose; 
  8. Payment of any part of a direct Federal debt, (including SBA loans) except IRS obligations;
  9. Pay any penalty resulting from noncompliance with a law, regulation or order of a Federal, state, regional, or local agency;
  10. Contractor malfeasance; and
  11. Relocation.

What’s Best Practice for Tracking the Use of Florida EIDL Funds?

The easiest way to track how your Florida EIDL funds are being used is to keep them in a separate bank account. For SBA review, you can provide bank statements showing the entire transaction history related to your EIDL funds.

While you aren’t required to submit documents automatically, you should keep careful records of how you spend Florida EIDL proceeds in case the SBA or another governmental agency requests it in the future. In the same way that there have been audits and inspections of past disasters, some of these loans will also be scrutinized.

It is not necessary to use a certain Florida business account to spend money. Just keep track of all eligible expenditures that you can attribute to the EIDL. While you are in possession of the loan, if prompted by the SBA, it is up to you to self-report what business activities you used the funds for.

Conclusion and Summary

Managing your Florida EIDL loan properly will allow you to maximize its benefits, so you need to know what you can and cannot do with it.

Hiring an EIDL Loan Advisor in Florida allows small business owners to focus on what matters most when growing their companies, and without having to worry about how they’ll secure SBA loan financing when they want or need it most. In a time of great need like COVID or other natural disaster that disrupts or damages their Florida business.

Does Your Florida Business Need an Increase or Loan Modification to Your Existing SBA EIDL Loan?

Did you already receive a Florida SBA EIDL loan for your Florida business?

We can assist your business in requesting additional SBA EIDL loan funds through the increase request and loan modification process in Florida.

Schedule Your Free Disaster Loan Consultation to see if we may be able to help your business with the SBA Increase Request Process in Florida.

Was Your Florida SBA EIDL Loan Denied?

Has your Florida SBA EIDL loan been denied for your FL business?

We can assist you in filing for an SBA EIDL loan reconsideration appeal for your business in Florida.Schedule Your Free Disaster Loan Consultation to see if we may be able to help your business with the SBA Loan Reconsideration Process in Florida.

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