* Guaranteed Rural Housing Loans are available to assist eligible households with incomes that do not exceed 115% of median income for the area.

* Direct Section 502 Loans provide eligible persons an opportunity to obtain adequate but modest, decent, safe and sanitary dwellings for applicants with incomes that do not exceed 80% of the median income for the area.

* Rural Rental Housing Loans are made to finance building construction and site development of multifamily living quarters for people with very low, low and moderate incomes. Some units are reserved for people with disabilities and/or people aged 62 and over. Loans can be made in this program to construct housing that will be operated in cooperative form, but loan funds may not be used to finance individual units within the project.

* Home Improvement Loans and Grants  enable very low income rural homeowners to remove health and safety hazards from their homes and to make homes accessible for people with disabilities. Grants are available for people 62 years old and older who cannot afford to repay a loan.

* Self-Help Housing Loans assist groups of six to eight low-income families build their own homes by providing materials and the skilled labor they cannot furnish themselves. The families must agree to work together until all homes are finished.

* Housing Preservation Grants help very low-and low-income homeowners repair and rehabilitate their homes. Rental property owners can use them to repair and rehabilitate their units if they agree to make such units available to low- and very low-income families.

* Water and Waste Disposal Grants are used to reduce water and waste disposal costs to a reasonable level for rural users. Grants may not exceed 75 percent of eligible project costs and are usually made in conjunction with a loan.

* Technical Assistance and Training Grants provide funding to nonprofit organizations for technical assistance on a wide range of issues relating to water and waste disposal problems and to improve operation and maintenance of existing systems.

* Solid Waste Management Grants provide technical assistance and training to nonprofit organizations and public bodies to reduce or eliminate pollution of water resources, improve planning and management of solid waste facilities and reduce the solid waste stream. This assistance is available in rural areas and towns with a population not in excess of 10,000.

* Guaranteed Water and Waste Disposal Loans are made by eligible lenders to public bodies and not-for-profit corporations to construct, enlarge, extend or improve water, waste disposal, storm sewer or solid waste disposal systems in rural areas of 10,000 or less.

* Community Facility Loans/Grants and Guaranteed Loans are used to construct, or improve community facilities providing essential services in rural areas and towns with a population of 20,000 or less. The funds are available to public entities such as municipalities, counties, special-purpose districts, Indian Tribes, and corporations not operated for profit for such purposes as health care, fire and rescue, community centers, assisted living projects, day care and other purposes.

The financial resources of RBS are often leveraged with those of other public and private credit source lenders to meet business and credit needs in underserved areas.

Recipients of these programs may include individuals, corporations, partnerships, cooperatives, public bodies, non-profit corporations, and private companies.

* Business Program Guaranteed Loans are used to improve, develop, or finance business, industry, and employment, and improve the economic and environmental climate in rural communities, including pollution abatement and control. This objective is achieved through bolstering the existing private credit structure with guarantees of quality loans which will provide lasting community benefits. This type of assistance is available to business located in rural communities with a population of less than 50,000.

* Intermediary Relending Program finances business facilities and community development projects in rural communities with a population of less than 25,000. This is achieved through loans made by USDA to intermediaries that provide loans to ultimate recipients for business facilities and community development in a rural area.

* Rural Cooperative Development Grants establish and operate centers for rural technology or cooperative development to carry out activities and generate information useful to rural industries, cooperatives, businesses, and others in the development and commercialization of new products, processes, or services.

* Rural Economic Development Loans and Grants make zero interest loans and grants available to rural electric and telephone borrowers to promote rural economic development and job creation projects.

* Rural Business Enterprise Grants assist public bodies and nonprofit corporations finance and facilitate development of small and emerging private businesses located in rural areas.

* Rural Business Opportunity Grants to promote sustainable economic development in rural communities with exceptional needs. This is accomplished by making grants to organizations to provide for economic development planning, technical assistance, or training.