As tens of thousands of Iowa business owners seek ways to stay financially afloat during the coronavirus pandemic, the U-S Small Business Administration is offering a range of low-interest loans and grants. Jayne Armstrong, director of the S-B-A’s Iowa District Office, says the agency’s Electronic Loan Application portal crashed a few times last week due to extremely heavy traffic, but the website has been repaired. And if that wasn’t enough, she says crooks are doing their best to dupe Iowa business owners. Armstrong says the S-B-A will not call you out of the blue, so simply hang up on those potential scammers.

For Iowa business owners who encounter a problem with the website, they can still download, print off and fill out the forms, scan them and upload them to the S-B-A. While it’s not ideal, Armstrong says there are 30-million small businesses nationwide that have been affected by the COVID-19 disaster.