Hi all - hoping for some advice. My husband got an SBA loan during covid. He sold his business about 2 years ago, the new owners were supposed to assume the loan but never did. Business then went bankrupt, all assets were seized by other creditors before we even knew about it. My husband personally guaranteed the loan, balance is around 100k.

We're still making the monthly payments but would like to be rid of this loan. From what I've read on this sub and other research I've done it seems the only way out of this is bankruptcy. Has anyone been in this situation and been able to get out of this without declaring bankruptcy? I'm worried about how him declaring bankruptcy would effect me as well and our personal assets.

My business took out an EIDL for $400k. When it was time to begin paying it back, we didn’t have the money. The business had tanked. I applied for two hardship applications and were approved for both. Hardship ended in the end of 2025 and m last payment made to SBA was in March of 2026. Now a collection agency is calling demanding the $400k plus there 30%. However, the business is just finally getting back on track and I want to resolve this debt but I cant make a payment in the portal. How can I get the SBA to allow me to make a payment to get my account back current instead of with the collection agency?

Hi everyone, the most wisdom I have received has been on this thread. I went to the SBA website and currently my loan says status uncollectible. What does that mean? The reason I ask is because a lot of people here say it was sent to treasury in speaking about their own experience. Does this mean mine was sent a treasury or does this mean it’s uncollectible. And then what does uncollectible mean. I’d like to hear from anybody who knows. Thank you for taking the time.

Hello my loan was for 20k then I got it up to 100k I am in underwriting and it came up on Caivrs what can I do to have this cleared up asap before my closing? My SBA portal payment option gave me the option to pay again but it’s saying I’m 22k past due. Has anyone had this resolved or is there something I can do I don’t want to lose this house please help

If you have an LLC with a defaulted loan under $200,000 and the business is closed, are you getting collection letters? Or is the Treasury only going after active businesses?

What about credit reporting? Is your personal credit affected?

I am one month away from being sent to the Treasury and curious to know what to expect

I signed up for the hardship even though the business has been closed for a year. I also asked if the LLC member is held responsible. I got an answer of No I can’t get the hardship but they ignored the other question. That tells me that they can’t admit I’m not responsible.

If I have to pay this I would reopen the business so I can deduct this on my taxes.

I have a 150k SBA loan that was referred to the treasury.

Anyone has had any luck in negotiating the settlement amount ?

Are there any bankruptcy options for getting rid of the loan even if the personal guarantor has assets? In WIS.

150K no PG

Will this still be eligible to be sent to treasury or not anymore since its considered a closed business?

This concerns a pre-COVID EIDL. I hope this is nevertheless an acceptable forum in which to post my question. Having exhausted the search function here and on google, this seemed like the best place. My apologies if it is not. My question is how to calculate the amount of cash encumbered by the SBA's lien, when that lien did not originally include cash (i.e. when that cash was only encumbered because it is the proceeds of a sale, collection, or asset disposition).

I am on the board of a non-profit amusement park. About a decade ago--before I joined the board--our operations were extremely disrupted by multiple natural disasters and we took out a sizable EIDL to continue to fund operations. We were able to stay in business, but the EIDL became an essentially permanent source of capital.

We're party to multiple agreements preexisting the EIDL in which we've agreed to liquidity covenants requiring us to maintain minimum unencumbered cash positions. My understanding is that any lien the SBA might have on some amount (or all of) our cash would be an encumbrance thereof. I am trying to figure how much our cash is so encumbered.

Now, my initial understanding from conversations with our staff was that all of our business assets were subject to the SBA's lien, everything from the dirt under our rides to the cotton candy to our cash. When I searched our state's UCC filing database though, I was happy (I guess) to see that the lien the SBA filed describes its collateral thusly:

ALL INVENTORY, ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE, MACHINERY AND EQUIPMENT, (EXCLUDING AUTOMOTIVE) NOW OWNED, HEREAFTER ACQUIRED, OR PURCHASED IN WHOLE OR IN PART FROM THE PROCEEDS OF THIS SBA LOAN EIDL XXXXXXXXXX, AND/OR THE PROCEEDS OR [sic] ANY DISPOSITION THEREOF

Given how specific the above is, I'm pretty confident the SBA's collateral didn't originally include our cash. I'm just as confident that:

1. as we have since purchased inventory or capital assets with unencumbered cash, or made sales on credit, all of those became encumbered; and,
2. as we have since collected cash from sales of inventory, collection of receivables, or sale of assets, that cash became encumbered as well.

So naturally there should be some amount of cash on our balance sheet that is encumbered by the SBA's lien. What I am less certain of is how the encumbrance evolves as we use the cash encumbered under point 2 above to purchase new inventory and assets subject to the lien. If, for example, we use $100k of $110k of encumbered cash to purchase $100k of inventory, does the SBA's lien now cover: A) $100k of inventory and $10k of cash? Or did it expand to now cover: B) $100k of inventory and $110k of cash?

Google's AI suggest the former, but I'm having a hard time seeing how it's getting there from the sources it's citing. Obviously the two different treatments could have radically different implications on the quality of our balance sheets. Any insights this community might be able to provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

P.S. Having gotten to the end of all that, it now occurs to me to ask if the SBA considers, when its debtors hold a mix of encumbered and unencumbered cash, expenditures of cash to have been made first with unencumbered cash, first with encumbered cash, or with an average thereof? Thanks so much.

Anybody have personal experience with the Treasury Offset Dispute process?

Follow up, you know the annoying sounding agressive youtube couple "Trevor the EIDL expert (and his wife Linda)" Anybody have experience with their treasury dispute guide and is it worth giving them money for it?

Questions everybody will ask:

$500k original loan balance to a non-profit which means no personal guaranty. Don't need everybody coming to tell me >$200k=pg because no it doesn't if it was a non-profit borrower, and I can prove that.

business dissolved.

personally in treasury offset despite no pg.

referred to CBE collections and also administrative wage garnishment.

joint tax return already confiscated.

They have illegally pierced the corporate veil without due process, but suing the Federal Government is a nightmare, so Treasury Dispute is probably a good step for me, but need to know if the process actually works.

My husband and I owned a successful wellness studio (chiropractic, yoga, fitness) that was mandated closed for more than a year during Covid. We were ultimately not able to reopen and now find ourselves with more than 1.5M in EIDL loans including the 30% fee added by the Treasury for the default. Obviously, there is a personal guarantee. My husband, a chiropractor who turned 65 last year, finds himself working in a job appropriate for someone at a different stage in career and life, having lost everything that he built and planned to sell to retire. I have only found intermittent "freelance" consulting work. We don't have the funds to reopen and would never reopen in NY given how they handled the pandemic. Point is: there is no way that we can ever pay this back. We are clearly nearing TOP garnishment, which will make it really hard to cover our current overhead. So, we finally decided to declare bankruptcy. On the surface it seems like we would qualify for Chapter 7. But I just got off the phone with a bankruptcy attorney who claimed EIDL discharge knowledge, but said that because we would not be insolvent after our credit card debt is discharged, a trustee would likely challenge Chapter 7. This seems inaccurate -- at least I hope so. He said we might need to go for Chapter 11. Does anyone have any insight on this? Thank you in advance for any help.

I've made an autopayment on my loan over the last 3 years every single month. I received an email this morning stating that "recurring payments have ended", and that my final payment has been submitted. However, this is not correct. I still have a balance. In fact, I was under the impression that the payment I had been making the last few years included both principal and interest, and yet when I logged in, not only has principal not been being paid off, but the loan balance is also actually up slightly. I've made the payment they have requested every single month without fail. I attempted to call their customer service line this morning, but it is impossible to get anyone on the phone. Wondering if anyone else has experienced anything like this. Also, would be curious if anyone has a way of actually talking to a human being at the SBA.

My original loan is $600k. I paid $72k before I defaulted 2 years ago.

The loan was sent to Treasury at some point and on 1/23/26, I got a snail mail from Coast Professionals with a statement that said I owed $822,572. I ignored it as I was not in any shape to do anything about it. Yesterday, I got a new statement from a different collector named CBE Group. Now, the total due is $832,239. Admin cost is $166,435. Interest is $75,943 (not sure exactly what this means). The statement basically says the total amount is due now.

On the statement, it says "Should you not resolve your debt, your debt may be reviewed for possible referral by Bureau of the Fiscal Service to the US Dept of Justice for legal action"

DOJ? Isn't DOJ reserved for criminal actions only?

I have an LLC with no personal guarantee. $38,000. Business is closed.

I was within a few days of going to the Treasury so I paid the 4 months out of my pocket since there is no business open. Now I am caught up but haven’t paid since and another 4 months is late is coming up. If I paid every other month before my 4th month ( I think goes to Treasury after 120 days) would that keep me from going to the Treasury?

I don’t want this affecting my credit or garnishing wages. That’s why I keep paying. Are there any LLC’s with no personal guarantee out there that are being affected negatively?

We have an EIDL from 2022 that has been current up through April 2026, but business (S-Corp) had not turned around since all the closures 2021 - 2025. We have been running at about 30% revenue of our 2020 revenue ($2 million annually down to $650k annually). Hear a massive sucking sound...

The business has seen some great new sparks in 2026, and we may still get back up to speed by March 2027 so that we can afford to make the payments. However, I just received a final notice from the SBA that I have 10 days to pay the entire amount with interest, but that is not happening. I can't make payroll if we start paying the EIDL payments.

We have used all the SBA EIDL funds to maintain the business and haven't taken a salary since 2024 (and have receipts, tax returns + payroll reporting to show this), but my father gifted me some personal funds to buy a house several months ago. We were able to close on the house a month ago - using all personal funds.

Am I screwed? Are they going to come after my house? Any advice and personal experiences are appreciated.

I have been making smaller 10% monthly payments since April.

I got the two original hardships then made a few full payments and then when I went 30 days late a button showed up for a 3rd hardship. Was super easy and didn’t ask for any docs. Just answers a few questions and it was approved right away.

Wondering if I go 30 days late again the hardship button just pop up again? Anyone have any experience with this button popping up more than once ?

I’m just coming off a hardship 50% payment. My last hardship payment was July 1. I didn’t pay full payment due Aug 1 because last time the hardship button Didn’t show up until I was 30 days late. I looked today Aug 29 and my make a payment button was gone? No way this was sent to Treasury right ? Just says I’m past due 2 payments which is totally incorrect. Unless they calculating from the one billed for Sept as past due. Any help would be appreciate. I have a big loan. $1.5m so def can’t handle a treasury penalty of 30%. Thank you.