Under what circumstances will SBA consider waiving the $2 million loan limit?
13 C.F.R. § 123.507
in effectEffective: 2024-07-01SBA will consider waiving the $2 million limit if you can certify to the following conditions and SBA approves of such certification based on the information supplied in your application:
(a) Your small business is a major source of employment. A major source of employment is a business concern that, on or after the date of the disaster:
(1) Employs 10 percent or more of the work force within the commuting area of the geographically identifiable community (no larger than a county) in which the business employing the essential employee is located, provided that the commuting area does not extend more than 50 miles from such community; or
(2) Employs 5 percent of the work force in an industry within such commuting area and, if the small business is a non-manufacturing small business, employs no less than 50 employees in the same commuting area, or if the small business is a manufacturing small business, employs no less than 150 employees in the commuting area; or
(3) Employs no less than 250 employees within such commuting area;
(b) Your small business is in imminent danger of going out of business as a result of one or more essential employees being called up to active service for a period of more than 30 consecutive days, and a loan in excess of $2 million is necessary to reopen or keep open the small business; and
(c) Your small business has used all reasonably available funds from the small business, its affiliates, its principal owners and all available credit elsewhere to alleviate the small business' economic injury. Credit elsewhere means financing from non-Federal sources on reasonable terms given your available cash flow and disposable assets which SBA believes your small business, its affiliates and principal owners could obtain.
Source: eCFRURL: https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2024-07-01/title-13.xmlFetched: 7/26/2026