The Rangeley Lake Region Micro Loan Program is designed to provide affordable financing to new and existing businesses in the town of Rangeley and the plantations of Rangeley, Dallas and Sandy River.

Lending Criteria

• Applicants for micro loan funds must be an owner, partner, chief executive officer or have power of attorney to apply for financing
• Applicants must have been declined by a bank or another lending institution; or are in the need of gap financing
• Micro loan funds cannot be substituted for available conventional financing or personal resources of the owner.

Eligible Activities
Types of activities that can be financed with micro loan funds include, but are not limited to:

• Capital equipment
• Inventory
• On-site utilities
• Real property acquisition, construction or rehabilitation that is essential to the operation of the business
• Working capital

Loan Amounts & Terms
Loans can be a minimum of $2,000 and a maximum of $25,000. Interest rates will be fixed at 1% above prime rate. The term of the loan will not exceed 10 years. A monthly amortization schedule will be required unless another appropriate method is deemed suitable by the loan review committee

Fees/Application Costs
A $50 application fee will be required after the pre-application phase and before the final application phase. The applicant will pay all recording fees upon loan approval.

Any costs incurred by the applicant in preparing documentation for the application will be borne by the applicant as well as any costs associated with legal document preparation, review, recordings, filing and closing documents. Program staff can provide some assistance with the application process and provide referrals to free business assistance services.

Equity Requirements
Loans that exceed $15,000 will require dollar-for-dollar match of money for the exceeding amount. Other loan conditions may apply as established by the loan committee.

Collateral Requirements
All loans must be 100% secured with sufficient collateral. Collateral may be in the form of land, buildings, equipment or other assets that have enough equity to match the loan.

Penalties
A late payment charge of 5% of the loan payment will be added in the event a loan payment is 15 days in arrears.

Job Creation/Retention

• Loans in any amount up to $7,500 will be expected to create/retain a minimum of 1 part-time job (16-31 hours per week)
• Loans of $7,500-$15,000 will be expected to create/retain a minimum of 1 full-time (32 hours per week) or part-time equivalent
• Loans of $15,000-$25,000 will be expected to create/retain 1 full-time and 1 part-time job or part-time equivalents