Under the PA Industrial Development Authority, businesses impacted by COVID-19 can file for small business loans. The government intends for these low-interest loans to help minimize the long term impact of COVID-19 on the Commonwealth’s economy.
Small Business Loans
More information from Senator DiSanto’s latest update follows. As usual, we quote directly, altering text only to insert links for interested readers.
Small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 public health emergency can apply now for low-interest state loans.
The COVID-19 Working Capital Access Program will feature a low interest rate, no application fees, and payments and interest waived during the first year of the loan. Loans of up to $100,000 will be available for small businesses with 100 or fewer full-time employees to use as working capital.
The program will be administered by the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority, which said it intends for the turnaround time for loan approval to be a matter of days. Additional information on the program is available at https://dced.pa.gov/cwca.
Business owners who are interested in applying should contact their local Certified Economic Development Organization (CEDO). A list of CEDOs is available at https://dced.pa.gov/cedo/.
Price Gouging Complaints
Somewhat related, the Price Gouging Act prohibits charging more than a twenty percent increased rate for consumer goods during emergencies. This increased rate is based on price before the declared emergency. Consumers can report gouging in several ways, detailed here.
Pennsylvania’s Price Gouging Act prohibits companies and vendors from charging a price for consumer goods greater than 20 percent higher than the price before an emergency declaration. Consumers can report violations of price gouging laws to the Attorney General by email at pricegouging@attorneygeneral.gov.
Consumers can also submit a complaint by reporting the name and price of the product and the name and location of the store or vendor online here.