Chicago, April 3 (Negocios Now-Exclusive) To help small businesses cope with the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the State of Illinois is making up to $250 million available to qualified financial institutions for loans.
This program is one of several that the state has for various sectors of the economy, Rodrigo Garcia, deputy treasurer, and chief investment officer at the Illinois State Treasury, told Negocios Now on Thursday.
“The institutions have requested close to $100 million already,” he said. “We’ve already had money going out the door since last Thursday, and it will continue to go out on an ongoing basis as soon as we get requests and as soon as we get documentation.”
Financial institutions may draw money in increments of $1 million or $5 million, up to a maximum of $25 million per institution, he said. For businesses or nonprofits, the interest rate charged cannot exceed 4.75%. Money must be used for bridge funding, to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable, and other bills.
To qualify for one of these loans, a small business or nonprofit must have less than $1 million in liquid assets or less than $8 million in average annual receipts. The business or nonprofit must have its headquarters in Illinois or must have agreed to use the funds in Illinois, Garcia said.
“What I would advise any business is that you want to look at what the federal government is providing through their SBA loans, especially all of the loans that were approved as part of the CARES Act, which is the most recent federal stimulus act that provides a significant amount to small businesses,” he said.
Also, he said, it would be wise to ask what relief is being offered through the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and through your county or a community business development corporation that may work with your county. Then you can choose whether to participate and what institution to request support from, he said.
Garcia said the Treasurer’s Office has been giving a lot of business to local firms and has pushed for minority representation.
“For us, this loan program is another extension of that,” he said.
For more information, to find a list of participating institutions, and to find an application for funds, click HERE.
(Negocios Now will publish a more extensive version soon)
