SBA’s Processing of COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan Reconsideration Requests

The Office of Inspector General is issuing this inspection report to assess the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) processing of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) reconsideration requests. SBA began accepting COVID-19 EIDL applications on March 12, 2020, and continued to accept them through December 31, 2021, when the COVID-19 EIDL program ended. COVID-19 EIDL applicants who were not approved for a loan could request the agency reconsider their loan application, initiating the reconsideration process. We found SBA generally processed reconsideration requests timely and accurately. The agency approved and funded 77 of the 83 (or 93 percent) sampled COVID-19 EIDL reconsideration requests within 30 days of receiving all documents needed for processing. We also determined SBA processed 71 of the 83 (or 86 percent) sampled reconsideration requests accurately. We recommended SBA recover funds provided to ineligible applicants. The agency agreed with our recommendation and intends to recover funds through the normal repayment and collection processes.