Many small businesses have been hit hard by Hurricane Sandy. Food trucks got washed away, retail shops are reeling, many have still not re-opened, transportation companies have been hit hard, and many others have been forced out of business or have taken a serious body-blow from Sandy.
One company that is doing their part is Accion. Accion is a global nonprofit micro lender. Their stated vision is to build a financially inclusive world with access to economic opportunity for all.
They recently announced their Sandy Recovery Business Loan Program. It’s geared toward individuals who own businesses who have been hit and impacted by Hurricane Sandy. The loans range from $1,000 up to $25,000.
One great thing about Accion is that they are a non-bank micro-lender. That means they have much more flexible underwriting criteria than banks and they obviously don’t shy away from small loans.
Also, for the first 3 months you make no payments and pay 0% interest. After 3 months the loan locks in at 4.99% for up to 48 months. There are no prepayment penalties and the loan closing costs are a standard 3-5% with a $30 application fee that’s only paid if you’re approved.
The basic criteria are pretty simple:
- They want FICO scores of 525 and above.
- If you have any past due debts it must be less than $3000.
- You must show adequate cash-flow to support the loan payments.
- No bankruptcies in the last 12 months or foreclosures in the last 24 months.
- No late payments on your rent/mortgage in the last 12 months.
- At least 6 months of sales history.
- You must own fewer than 4 mortgaged properties.
This is pretty basic stuff but, as with any loan application, there is no guarantee that you’ll be approved. The hardest criteria may be that you need to be in an area impacted by Sandy.
This is very cheap money…get it now if you’ve been impacted by the hurricane. Accion is a great organization that is doing great things globally. Be part of that while you rebuild your life and business!
Hurricane Sandy, Brooklyn, New York Photo via Shutterstock
Cate
Wow that is amazing. Big thumbs up for Accion on being a global nonprofit micro lender.
I didnt think such a thing existed in North America. I know similar programs have taken root in some third world countries in an effort to alleviate poverty but I never expected to see it in greedy North America.
We simply need more organizations like them.
All my blessings to Accion and the people affected by Hurricane Sandy – god bless.
Ti Roberts
I agree. It’s great to see that North America is offering financial relief to the Hurricane Sandy victims. With this kind of outreach, the future looks much brighter and rebuilding should be much quicker.
Ti
Tom Gazaway
Thanks for your comments Ti. People are definitely coming together to recover from Sandy from all I hear. Lots of work and we encourage all the small biz owners who have been impacted. It’s great that organizations like Accion are offering to do their part!
Tom Gazaway
Thanks Cate! They are truly a great organization. They are certainly not all things to all people but they serve an important niche and have done great things to help a lot of people over the years!
This large storm serves to remind us how fragile our modern cities/lifestyles really are and that with present levels of technology there is no such thing as ‘freak weather’ or ‘unforeseen disasters’ because we were warned. We know that our cities are vulnerable and governments must raise money through increased taxation to ether physically protect them or rebuild them to withstand the forces of nature in less vulnerable locations. We also need to reflect on our previously poor response to warnings about global warming and how our governments policy and our unsustainable way of life impacts upon the worlds climate and take some responsibility for our own contribution to problems that we now know will come back to haunt us when we do not support global initiatives for large scale change.
Tom Gazaway
Thanks Jessica. I’m sure there’s a much larger discussion here as well. There’s lots of work to do and certainly many lessons for us to learn.
This initiative sounds good. In fact, small businesses should be rescued because it has been seen that they are the real employment boosters in the economy. These kinds of initiatives should be undertaken across US so that employment generation gets shot in the arm. When the lawmakers are busy in keeping the economy in a logjam, let me vouch for further stimulus for the economy that boosts employment generation, increasing the aggregate demand of the economy.