- 1369,588 Covid EIDLs valued at $47B had been charged off by December 2024, per the SBA OIG.
- 2Only 4,718 of 58,024 EIDLs over $500,000 were secured by real estate.
- 3Five of those defaulted, versus 4,605 non-real-estate loans over $500,000.
A recent report from the SBA's Office of Inspector General found that 369,588 Covid-era Economic Injury Disaster Loans valued at $47 billion had been charged off by December 2024. It also suggests that real estate collateral made a large difference in outcomes.
Liens and requirements
For loans over $25,000, the SBA relied on blanket liens. These give the agency the right to take a borrower's assets, such as inventory, equipment and other tangible or intangible property, if the borrower defaults. Given the number of defaults so far, the report indicates this has not served as much of a deterrent.
On loans over $500,000, borrowers were supposedly required to put up real estate. According to the OIG, the SBA approved the loans regardless.
The numbers
- 58,024 Covid-19 EIDLs exceeded $500,000.
- Only 4,718 of them were secured with real estate.
- Five of those real estate-backed loans had defaulted as of July 2024, and none of the five had been foreclosed on yet.
- By comparison, 4,605 loans over $500,000 without real estate collateral had already defaulted and been charged off.
The full report is available on the Oversight.gov site.
Source reporting: deBanked.
