New York State recently announced an economic recovery loan program, the New York Forward Loan Fund (NYFLF), for small businesses, nonprofits, and small landlords (50 units or less) that have seen a loss of rental income. The NYFLF is primarily to provide working capital loans for companies and other entities with 20 or fewer full-time equivalent employees. Also, the loans are only available to those who did not receive a loan through the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) or the SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) for COVID-19 in 2020.

The proceeds are required to be used under the following categories: working capital, inventory, marketing, refitting for new social distancing guidelines, operating and emergency maintenance, property taxes, utilities, rent, supplies, etc. Loan applicants will be required to detail anticipated use of funds when they apply.

Pre-applications for the NYFLF opened starting May 26, 2020. There are no application fees and collateral is not required. Applicants are also allowed to prepay the loan without penalty. However, priority will be given to industries and regions that have been re-opened; this is not a first-come, first served loan program. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis as regions and industries re-open. Prospective borrowers are encouraged by NYS to prepare their pre-applications in advance which will allow them to quickly submit their pre-application once it is announced that its industry and region are phased to re-open.

Brief Details of the Program

Loan Amount

Small businesses and NFPs – the lesser of $100,000 or up to 100% of average monthly revenues in any 3-month period from 2019 or first quarter of 2020.

Fixed Annual Interest Rate

Small businesses – 3%.
NFPs – 2%.
Term: 5 years (60 months)

Repayment

For months 1 – 12: Interest only payments, paid monthly.
For months 13 – 60: Interest and principal payments, paid monthly.

Read all the details here, and pre-apply as soon as possible.