# What can you do if you cannot make your EIDL payments?

**Short answer:** Contact SBA before the debt reaches 90 days past due. For COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) loans, SBA's page points borrowers to CESC@sba.gov. A satisfactory written repayment agreement that you keep current stops the debt from counting as delinquent for 7(a) and 504 eligibility.

Canonical page: https://www.sbaexpress.loans/answers/cannot-make-eidl-payments/
Last checked: 2026-11-08

Start by contacting SBA, and do it before the account goes 90 days past due. That date matters for future SBA borrowing.

## Who to contact

SBA's disaster page (read November 8, 2026) gives these channels:

- COVID EIDL loans: CESC@sba.gov.
- Other disaster loan questions: DCS@sba.gov or 800-659-2955.
- Loan management: the SBA Loan Portal.

## Why 90 days matters

SOP 50 10 8.1 treats a federal debt as delinquent when it has not been paid within 90 days of the due date (Sec. A, Ch. 1, Para. E, Delinquent Federal Debt). A delinquent federal debt bars the applicant or a guarantor from 7(a) and 504 loans.

A debt is not delinquent if you have a satisfactory written repayment agreement with the agency and you are paying as agreed.

## Hardship programs

SBA's lender page lists an April 9, 2024 training that covered a Hardship Accommodation Plan for COVID EIDL (sba.gov/sba-lenders, read November 8, 2026). The primary sources we reviewed do not state that plan's current terms or whether it is still open. Ask SBA directly.

## What can follow a default

If SBA later records a loss on the loan, that can become a prior loss under the SOP. A prior loss bars 7(a) and 504 loans until fully satisfied. Lenders check the federal Credit Alert Verification Reporting System (CAIVRS) database for both problems.

## What is not covered here

The primary sources we reviewed do not describe SBA's collection steps on an EIDL.

## Sources

- [sba.gov/disaster (read November 8, 2026)](https://www.sba.gov/disaster/)
- [sba.gov/sba-lenders (read November 8, 2026)](https://www.sba.gov/sba-lenders)
- [SOP 50 10 8.1, Sec. A, Ch. 1, Para. E, Delinquent Federal Debt (Para. E begins p. 18)](https://legacy.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2026-10/SOP%2050%2010%208.1%20Technical%20Policy%20Updates%20effective%20%2010.1.2026.docx)
- [SOP 50 10 8.1, Sec. A, Ch. 1, Para. E, Prior Loss to the Government (Para. E begins p. 18)](https://legacy.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2026-10/SOP%2050%2010%208.1%20Technical%20Policy%20Updates%20effective%20%2010.1.2026.docx)