Two Documents to Get You Started

Click here to download our Microloan Application

Click here to download a Credit Report Request Form


Loans

The Business Center for New Americans' Microloan Program provides loans to business owners who are not able to obtain loans from traditional lenders for  reasons which may include:

  • The loan requested is too small
  • The bank won't lend to start-up businesses
  • The business owner's credit score is too low, but they can demonstrate  ability to repay a loan
  • The business owner has a credit card, but doesn't want to use it to fund their business

BCNA provides microloans for start-ups, business expansion, and refinancing. Our loans range from a minimum of $500 to a maximum of $50,000, for up to four years.

Interest Rates Charged

  • 10% fixed for loans of $500 - $3,000
  •  8% fixed for loans of $3,001 - $50,000

Repayment Period

Borrowers have from 6 months to 3 years to repay loans.

Fees

  • $25 Loan Application Fee (includes one credit report)
  • $15 for each additional credit report needed
  • Closing fee based on loan amount:
    $500:   no closing fee 
    $501 - $3,000:  $25
    $3,001 - $50,000: 1 % of loan 

Loan Criteria

While BCNA does not have a minimum required credit score (FICO score), the potential borrower must be able to show how they will be able to repay the loan.  

Other requirements:

  • Loans above $3,000 must have a cosigner who will be required to repay the debt if the borrower defaults
  • The borrower must match 20% of the loan amount with previous personal investment in the business or savings
  • The borrower must not have declared bankruptcy in the past 12 months
  • The borrower must show sufficient cash flow to make monthly loan payments
  • The business must have all required licenses, or be in the process of getting those licenses

While we do not have a minimum credit score, if there is a pattern of non-repayment of other debts, or the borrower does not demonstrate willingness to repay, we will not approve the loan.

If you are interested in estimating what your credit score is, use  MyFICO's Credit Score Estimator (free), or obtain your actual credit score for a small fee at AnnualCreditReport.com

Monthly Payments

BCNA loan officers work with our borrowers to determine the loan amount which best meets the needs of a specific business;  monthly income must be able to comfortably support monthly loan payments. The chart below shows approximate monthly payment amounts.

Loan Amount

Term

Approximate Monthly Payment*

$500

6 months

$85.78

$3,000

24 months

$138.43

$15,000

24 months

$678.41

$35,000

36 months

$1,096.77

*Based on an interest rate of 8% for loans up to $3,000 and 10% for loans above $3,001 to $50,000.  Specific payment schedules will be calculated at the time of closing based on the evaluation of each application.

Getting Started

Check the Loan Eligibility page to make sure you qualify to work with BCNA.  Then contact any member of our staff to get started:

Aaron Lackman, Loan Officer alackman@nybcna.org, 212-898-4126.  Speaks English

Dong Tran, Loan Officer, dtran@nybcna.org, 212-898-4167. Speaks Vietnamese, Cantonese, Mandarin, & Chow Zhou

Leonid Ostrovsky, Managing Coordinator, lostrovsky@nybcna.org, 212-898-4130. Speaks Russian

Maria Paulino, Loan Officer / Training Coordinator, mpaulino@nybcna.org, 212-898-4127. Speaks Spanish

Zachariah Logan, Business Counselor, zlogan@nybcna.org, 212-898-4125. Speaks African dialects of Bassa & Kru

Francess Smith, IDA Program Specialist, fsmith@nybcna.org, 212-898-7850. Speaks French & Creole

Vish Dasma,  Senior Loan Officer, vdasma@nybcna.org, 718 -701-4110. Speaks Hindi and Kannada