Business and Industrial Guaranteed Loans (B&I)-

Commercial loans, guaranteed up to 90% against loss of principal and interest, are made by lenders to individuals and corporations. Loans may be made for improving, developing, or financing business, industry, and employment in areas with populations less than 50,000.

 Intermediary Relending Program Loans (IRP) -

Provides assistance to finance business facilities and community development projects not within the outer boundary of any city having a population of 25,000 or more. These funds are achieved through loans made by Rural Development to intermediaries that ultimately provide loans to recipients for business facilities and community development projects in a rural area.

Provides assistance to public bodies and nonprofit corporations to finance and facilitate development of small and emerging private business enterprises located in rural areas or cities up to 50,000 population with priority to applications for projects in open country, rural communities and towns of 25,000 or smaller, and economically distressed communities.

Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant Program (REDLG) -

Provides uses of loans and grants to promote rural economic development and/or job creation projects, including, but not limited to, project feasibility studies, start-up costs, business incubator projects, and other reasonable expenses for the purpose of fostering rural economic development.

These loans and grants can only be made to Utilities Programs  electric and telephone borrowers. The minimum amount is $10,000, and the maximum amount is $400,000.

Rural Business Opportunity Grants
(RBOG) -

Provides grants for technical assistance for business development and conduct economic development planning in rural areas. The purpose of this program is to promote sustainable economic development in rural communities with exceptional needs by: promoting economic development that is sustainable over the long term through local effort without subsidies or external support and that leads to improvements in quality as well as the quantity of economic activity in the community; catalizing economic development projects by providing critical investments that enable effective development projects to be undertaken by rural communities that, with the RBOG assistance, will be able to identify their needs and take full advantage of available resources and opportunities; focusing assistance on priority communities; and sponsoring economic development activities with significant potential to serve as examples of "best practices" that merit implementation in rural communities in similar circumstances. Priority communities are communities that are experiencing trauma due to natural disasters or are undertaking or completing fundamental structural changes, have remained persistently poor, or have experienced long-term population decline or job deterioration.
 

Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Program

 Provides grants, loan guarantees, and direct loans to farmers and ranchers (agricultural producers) or rural small businesses to purchase renewable energy systems and make energy efficiency improvements.  The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (2002 Act) established the Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvements Program.  This program will help farmers, ranchers, and rural small businesses to reduce energy costs and consumption.