Mountain BizWorks is a proud to be a participating lender in the North Carolina Rapid Recovery Lending program which supports NC small businesses and family farms as they recover from the economic impact of COVID-19. Rapid Recovery loans are a vital source of flexible and low cost disaster loan funding to help our small businesses be resilient and adaptive in the face of the COVID-19 crisis. More than $35 million in Rapid Recovery relief loans have been provided statewide to date.

This is not a grant program

Mountain BizWorks issued Rapid Recovery loans are not designed to be a singular source of assistance for small businesses. Repayment is expected either from more permanent funding sources or from the future cash flow of the business.

Loan details (newly updated!)

Loans are available for up to $250,000, based on the business’s impacts due to COVID-19 and pre-pandemic revenue. Loan agreements are structured as follows:

10 year loan term with 18 months of no payments at 0.25% interest, followed by 102 months of principal and interest payments at 5.5% interest.

There are no prepayment penalties.

Defaulted loans are subject to collections.

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.

Businesses who have received funding through SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) are still eligible for Rapid Recovery, but will need to show that their economic hardship is in excess of the EIDL amount received.

Requirements

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.

Logistics & timeline

Applications must be submitted by no later than October 15 to be considered for this program.

Businesses interested in applying should be prepared to complete an online application and provide tax returns, profit and loss statements, and bank statements.

The partners in this program are committed to moving as fast as possible to assist businesses and they will be in touch with applicants as soon as possible.

Loans subject to availability of funds.

How to apply

Click the button below to proceed to our online Rapid Recovery loan application. If you have any questions completing your application, please contact us at ncrr@mountainbizworks.org.

Apply Now »

Borrower Spotlight

“The Rapid Recovery loan arrived like lightning,” says Shannon McGaughey, co-owner of the Asheville restaurant, Vivian. “When we were able to get the support it lifted a huge weight off our shoulders.” The restaurant, open again, employs 13 people and continues to partner with a variety of local merchants, farmers, mushroom foragers, wine bottlers, and more. Read the full profile.

With support from

The NC COVID-19 Rapid Recovery Lending Program received initial funding from Golden LEAF Foundation. Capacity to meet the current demand has been expanded through funds appropriated by the North Carolina as well as by contributions from Dogwood Health Trust, Appalachian Regional Commission, and others. The program represents an agile partnership between several community development financial institutions (CDFI) across the state including Mountain BizWorks with a goal of providing a rapid response to NC small businesses. Special thanks to the NC Rural Center for coordinating and administering this important program.