UPDATED May 4, 2020 — Yesterday, the North Carolina Legislature finalized a relief package to address the Covid-19 pandemic in North Carolina, which included $125 million to expand a low-cost small-business loan fund run by the Golden LEAF Foundation. The North Carolina COVID-19 Rapid Recovery Lending program supports North Carolina small businesses and family farms. This rapid recovery loan helps small businesses bridge the gap between when crisis strikes and when federal loans, insurance payouts, and other relief funds are approved, or businesses have time to recover.

Who is eligible?

• Applicants must be a North Carolina small business affected by COVID-19 (all 100 NC counties are eligible).
• Applicants must have at least one (1) employee, who could be the self-employed owner.
• Start-up businesses that began operations before March 23, 2020 are eligible.

Applicants must:

• Own and operate a legal business in NC or plan to do so
• Be at least 18 years of age
• Have credit showing a successful repayment history
• Not have any active judgments, foreclosures, or federal obligations in default

Loan Details

Loans are available for up to $50,000, based on the business’s current revenue. Loan agreements are structured as follows:

• Loan sizes are capped at approximately two months of current revenue.
• Six months of no payments are allowed, followed by 48 months of principal and interest payments at 5.5% interest.
• There are no prepayment penalties.
• Defaulted loans are subject to collections.

The Golden Leaf Foundation outlines these steps for all applications:

1. Application Part A. You’ll start by filling out a short form with a few basic questions.
2. Consultation. When Golden Leaf receives your application, they will schedule a phone conversation to learn more about you, your business goals, and your financial situation. By the end of this conversation they will provide either a pre-approval or guidance on what might be needed to get pre-approved in the future. The Foundation will also  connect you with resources that can provide further assistance.
3. Application Part B. If you are pre-approved, the Foundation will ask you to complete Application Part B and submit documentation necessary to verify your income, expenses, assets, liabilities, etc.
4. Loan Review. Once the Foundation receives a completed application and all required documents, your loan will go through 2-3 steps of review to determine if you are approved. This process can take up to 2-3 weeks.
5. Loan Agreement and Funding. If you are approved, the Foundation will send you a loan agreement and other documents to sign, and then fund the loan electronically.

The Golden Leaf Foundation offers these additional notes for those submitting an application: 

• Any individual with greater than 20% ownership in the applying business must personally guarantee the loan.
• Proceeds from the loan may only be used for maintaining or restarting a business.
• The use of loan funds to pay off debts already incurred for qualifying business maintenance or restart purposes may be authorized on a case-by-case basis.
• Borrowers are required to assign the proceeds of future assistance programs, including SBA loans, to the repayment of their Rapid Recovery Loan.

Visit the NC Rapid Recovery website to learn more and apply online.