Mecklenburg County understands the difficulties faced by small businesses in response to COVID-19. The County is committed to stabilizing small businesses by providing loans before other Federal or State funds are available.
General Eligibility
- Business must be located in Mecklenburg County
- Must be in operations for past 24 months
- Business with up to 50 full-time equivalent employees
- Demonstration of COVID-19 Impact – 20% or more decline in gross revenues as evidenced from current bank statement (February 2020 or later)
- Length of credit history should be 2 years or greater; No credit accounts > 90 days past due at time of application (excluding medical).
- Neither Principal nor business has had a bankruptcy filing in the past 3 years
- No open tax liens
- No current judgments
- No outstanding charge-offs or collection accounts > $1,000 (excluding medical)
Start-ups and small businesses that were not profitable prior to the COVID-19 pandemic – as evidenced by tax filings - are not eligible for program participation.
PERMITTED USE OF FUNDS
Working Capital (Payroll or Utilities Expenses related
Occupancy (Lease or mortgage payment)
Existing periodic real property financing payments
Existing periodic business property financing payments
PROHIBITED USE OF FUNDS
GUIDELINES
- Loan Amount: Minimum $5,000 up to a maximum of $35,000
- Term: Up to 10 years
- Interest Rate: 3%
- Repayment: 12 months of interest only payments followed by 9 years of principal and interest payments
- Personal guarantee: Required of anyone with 20% or more ownership in business
- Prepayment: No prepayment penalities and reamortization of loan if any one payment exceeds 20% of outstanding balance
- No application fee; no loan fee; no documentation fee
How to Apply
The loan fund is administered by a leveraging partner, Carolina Small Business Development Fund. The application will be available on April 13, 2020 by visiting the link below to connect with a loan officer at the Carolina Small Business Development Fund.
Application
Application available at the Carolina Small Business Development FundApplication