The SBA Covid rescue did not pay off for taxpayers

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SBA writes off billions more in Covid-era small-business loans

The Small Business Administration has again written off billions of dollars in Covid-era small-business loans, and two newly issued reports say the agency doesn't have the necessary systems in place to keep track of which loans are eligible for its hardship programs.

New data from the agency shows the SBA charged off about $18.6 billion in Covid Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program loans in fiscal 2024, which ended September 30. That represents about 6.5% of the total portfolio the agency is still servicing — which was roughly 2.3 million loans valued at $287 billion as of Oct. 15...

The SBA ultimately approved about 4.1 million loans for roughly $390 billion through the EIDL program. That amount has dropped as some approved loans were quickly returned and others were paid off.

The loan volume charged off by the SBA in its fiscal 2024 is down from the nearly $52 billion in charged-off Covid EIDL loans in fiscal 2023, a sum that represented 17.2% of the total portfolio at the time... Read more.

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