SBA Loans Saved Businesses Before Covid—Now They Could Ruin Them

As the owner of Bane, the biggest haunted-house attraction in New York City, Jennifer Condron knows her way around scary situations. Except what to do about her bank loan.

Condron’s BulletProof Productions LLC got a $350,000 loan backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic shut down entertainment venues and dried up their revenue. Under the extraordinary circumstances, the agency issued guidance in early March 2020 that encouraged lenders participating in its 7(a) program to allow deferred payments for six months and beyond.

But the latest extension of that policy, one of the ...