SBA Horror Stories

Robert is a 66-year-old immigrant from Iran who spent decades building his hair salons into successful businesses. Then the SBA destroyed everything with a clerical error.

The SBA misfiled his loan under a federal employee ID instead of his Social Security number. Result? He was marked $31,000+ past due and referred to collections with erroneous demands totaling nearly $1.5 MILLION - including demands claiming he owed $734,000 on EACH of two salons.

When he went to the SBA office for help, a representative told him to consider declaring bankruptcy. Over THEIR filing error.

Freddie did everything right. He got an EIDL loan to keep his entertainment booking agency alive during COVID. He tried to make his payments every single month.

For THREE YEARS, his payments were never processed by the SBA. Not one. Then they marked him in default and sent him to collections - accumulating penalties and interest on a loan he'd been trying to pay the entire time.

Scott applied for hardship accommodation. It was APPROVED in April, reducing his payments from $2,505 to $251 monthly. He made every single payment.

By October, his account showed months past due anyway. The SBA lost his payments. All of them. Then Hurricane Helene damaged his warehouse - and when he tried to get a disaster loan, the program was exhausted.

Jennifer runs a haunted house attraction - she knows her way around scary situations. But nothing prepared her for the SBA.

Her entertainment venue was shut down completely during COVID, eliminating all revenue. She received payment deferrals starting in March 2020, but when those extended deferment policies expired, she faced impossible choices with no path forward.

The SBA saved her business temporarily, then set it up to fail permanently.