The SBA EIDL loan recipients list is publicly available on USASpending.gov, the federal government’s official spending database. It shows the legal name, business address, and exact approved amount for each of the roughly four million COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans the Small Business Administration issued before the program closed in 2022, along with older disaster loans from other events. Here is how to search it, what you’ll find, and where to go if you need more than the public file contains.
How to Search the List on USASpending.gov
The SBA points the public to USASpending.gov for all EIDL data from March 2020 forward.1U.S. Small Business Administration. EIDL Data The site tracks federal contracts, grants, and loans across every agency.2USAspending: Government Spending Open Data. Government Spending Open Data
Use the Award Search function and filter by awarding agency (Small Business Administration) and award type (loans). From there you can narrow by recipient name, location, or NAICS industry code. Individual records open into a detail page showing the borrower, address, approval date, and loan amount.
If you need thousands of records rather than a handful of lookups, download the bulk files instead of clicking through result pages. The files are large CSVs or ZIPs and work best in spreadsheet software or a database tool.
The SBA also runs its own open data portal at data.sba.gov, which publishes disaster loan data with fields like approved amount, disaster declaration number, and property location.3U.S. Small Business Administration. Disaster Loan FY01 It covers EIDL loans across all disaster types, not just COVID-19, so it’s the better starting point if you’re researching hurricanes, wildfires, or earlier events.
If you find a third-party site advertising EIDL lookups, cross-check anything it shows against USASpending.gov. The federal dataset is the authoritative one.
What Each Record Shows
Every approved EIDL loan and advance appears in the release. For each borrower you can expect:
- The legal name of the business or sole proprietor
- The business address on file at the time of application
- The precise dollar amount approved
- The loan approval date
- The NAICS code identifying the type of business, in most records
NAICS codes make it practical to filter by sector. Code 72 covers accommodation and food services, code 62 covers health care, and the full list runs across every industry.
What the Public List Leaves Out
SBA regulations keep several categories out of the public release. Social Security numbers, personal tax identification numbers, home addresses, birth dates, and medical records are exempt from disclosure, and so is confidential business information: credit reports, tax forms, revenue figures, business plans, banking information, and pricing data.4eCFR. 13 CFR Part 102 Subpart A – Disclosure of Information
Declined, withdrawn, pending, and canceled applications are excluded entirely.4eCFR. 13 CFR Part 102 Subpart A – Disclosure of Information Only approved loans appear. If a business you’re researching applied but didn’t receive funds, you won’t see any trace of that application in the public data.
Why the Names and Amounts Are Public
The SBA didn’t publish this data on its own. When the pandemic-era loans first went out, the agency withheld borrower names and loan amounts on privacy grounds. News organizations filed a FOIA lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and the court ordered disclosure. The judge found that borrowers had been told on the application itself that their data could be released under FOIA, and that the public interest in scrutinizing hundreds of billions of federal dollars outweighed the limited privacy interest at stake. The order required release of names, addresses, and precise loan amounts.
The scale explains the pressure. The COVID-19 EIDL program was the largest disaster loan effort in SBA history, with nearly four million loans totaling roughly $390 billion approved before the agency stopped accepting new applications on January 1, 2022, and closed the portal on May 16, 2022.5U.S. Small Business Administration. COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan Loans carried interest rates capped at 4% with repayment terms of up to 30 years.6U.S. Small Business Administration. Economic Injury Disaster Loans A federal data-matching project later flagged more than $2.25 billion in potentially fraudulent EIDL disbursements across more than 18,000 loans, with nearly $1.4 billion of that not previously identified. That’s part of why the recipient list gets so much traffic: journalists checking for fraud patterns, businesses vetting partners and vendors, researchers tracking where aid landed, and people checking whether a loan appears in their own name.
If a Loan Appears in Your Name and You Didn’t Take It
The SBA has a dedicated identity-theft process for exactly this situation, and it can release you from repayment on a fraudulent loan.7U.S. Small Business Administration. Reporting Identity Theft You’ll need to submit three things:
- An identity theft report filed with the Federal Trade Commission at IdentityTheft.gov, with a federal law enforcement agency, or with your local police department. Keep a copy.
- The SBA Declaration of Identity Theft form, completed, printed, signed by hand, and scanned or photographed.
- A copy of your government-issued photo ID: driver’s license, state ID, passport, or military ID.
Submit through the MySBA Loan Portal if you have the loan number, or by email to IDTheftRecords@sba.gov, by fax to 202-481-5200, or by mail to U.S. Small Business Administration, Attn: ID Theft Records, 14925 Kingsport Rd., Fort Worth, TX 76155.7U.S. Small Business Administration. Reporting Identity Theft Move quickly. A fraudulent loan sitting in your name gets harder to clear the longer it stays there.
Getting Records the Public List Doesn’t Show
If you need something the dataset doesn’t include, such as correspondence between a borrower and a loan officer, application details, or internal SBA review documents, file a Freedom of Information Act request. FOIA gives any person the right to request federal agency records, and the agency must respond within 20 business days.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 US Code 552 – Public Information; Agency Rules, Opinions, Orders, Records, and Proceedings The SBA can extend that deadline for large or complex searches, and in practice it often does.
Put the request in writing and label it clearly as a FOIA request. Include your name, mailing address, and a specific description of what you want, with any loan numbers, borrower names, or date ranges that help locate the file. You can submit through the SBA’s online FOIA portal, by email to FOIA@sba.gov, or by mail to the Chief, Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts Office, U.S. Small Business Administration, 409 3rd St. SW, 8th Floor, Washington, DC 20416.9U.S. Small Business Administration. FOIA State whether you’re willing to pay fees and, if so, up to what amount; leaving that blank can stall the request.
Expect redactions. Even in a favorable response, the SBA blacks out material under FOIA’s exemptions. The most common on EIDL records are Exemption 4 (confidential commercial and financial information) and Exemption 6 (personal privacy).10FOIA.gov. Freedom of Information Act: Frequently Asked Questions Revenue figures, tax returns, banking details, and Social Security numbers will almost certainly be withheld. If you think the redactions went too far, you can appeal to the head of the agency within at least 90 days of the adverse determination.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 US Code 552 – Public Information; Agency Rules, Opinions, Orders, Records, and Proceedings
Checking UCC Liens on an EIDL Borrower
For EIDL loans over $25,000, the SBA secured collateral by filing a blanket UCC-1 lien against the borrower’s business assets. Those filings are public records held at the state level, usually through the Secretary of State’s office. If you’re vetting a business that shows up on the EIDL list, a UCC search in its home state confirms whether the SBA still holds a lien and shows other secured creditors. Fees vary by state, from free online lookups to $25 or more for certified results.
If you’re the borrower and you’ve paid the loan off, confirm the SBA has released the lien. An unreleased UCC filing can complicate refinancing, selling the business, or getting new credit even after the debt is gone.