Hundreds of homeowners with SBA Duplication of Benefits may have been categorized incorrectly.
SBA Duplication of Benefits totaling near $55 million for Louisiana alone may have been counted against disaster victims but later changed by the SBA without updating state grantee datafeeds. This issue may also be relevant to other disasters since 2013.
image

By Writers Pool published 11-8-2018 updated 7-28-2019

UPDATED 7-28-2019: State of Louisiana releases it's numbers which give a more accurate account of what so many homeowners were forced to stress over the last 2.5 years. 

State of Louisiana Grantee OCD-DRU officially identifies 1,168 [1,158] homeowners penalized by not declining their loans as the SBA did. The state also sets an amount to $38,660,707 [$55 million] total loan amounts incorrectly held against homeowners. This would now answer the legal question as to damages. Original loan amounts were calculated based on the average household repair amount of $47k.

End Update of 7-28-2019

It is estimated that 1,158 homeowners are denied Restore LA HUD CDBG-DR Grants by the state of Louisiana Office of Community Development - Disaster Recovery Unit because the state did not check the SBA Datafeed for updates or request updated cancellation codes for homeowners from the SBA.

The state was made aware of SBA agency cancellation code updates by several homeowners that researched their SBA DOB issues, but Restore LA failed to apply these updates to all homeowners with SBA Duplication of Benefits. These 1,158 homeowners may have qualified under HUD Guidance of 2011 or 2013 and other hardships, and Group 1 SBA cancellation codes may have changed the homeowner from a loan status of "Approved" to "Declined" which would automatically remove the SBA loan from any duplication of benefits. The state failed to request updated data information to prevent categorizing SBA loans incorrectly.

The breakdown of SBA Agency Cancellation Codes Group 1 information was received by public document request via the state of Louisiana DOA is as follows: (1,158 total)

  • 695 possible homeowners with cancellation code C10. Failure to complete and return all loan closing documents. (Discovered / Proven)
  • 42 possible homeowners with cancellation code C11. Failure to satisfy all terms and conditions of the loan.
  • 267 possible homeowners with cancellation code C12. Adverse change. - IHP referral. (Discovered / Proven)
  • 11 possible homeowners with cancellation code C13. Adverse change. - Other. (Discovered / Proven)
  • 78 possible homeowners with cancellation code C14 Subsequent recoveries exceed verified loss.
  • NA possible homeowners with cancellation code C15. RESERVED
  • 65 possible homeowners with cancellation code C16. Other reasons. - (Agency Decision)

In closing any one of these 1,158 Louisiana homeowners could have their SBA DOB waived today if the state of Louisiana OCD-DRU would order a review of all cancellation codes from the SBA group 1 "Agency Canceled" C10-C16.

Share with others that you know or suspect never received SBA disaster loan assistance but have been penalized by the State of Louisiana and it's Management Contractor IEM Inc. to include all quality control and quality assurance contractors as well as policy and procedure contractors.

Technical Notes Unrelated issues

Technical Notes Related Resources to published issue: (DataFeed)

Additional Research for Clarification to Media Outlets:

I respectfully request the number of homeowners that have SBA Loan amounts listed as Duplication of Benefits for their Restore Louisiana Homeowners Program application matching the SBA Cancellation codes provided below.

I am requesting the value of XX.
C10 total of 695 homeowners of which XX have SBA DOB listed on their RLHP accounts.
C11 total of 42 homeowners of which XX have SBA DOB listed on their RLHP accounts.
C12 total of 267 homeowners of which XX have SBA DOB listed on their RLHP accounts.
C13 total of 11 homeowners of which XX have SBA DOB listed on their RLHP accounts.
C14 total of 78 homeowners of which XX have SBA DOB listed on their RLHP accounts.
C16 total of 65 homeowners of which XX have SBA DOB listed on their RLHP accounts.

HUD OIG Report evidence supporting my research.

HUD OIG Found one SBA victim that was classified incorrectly when they audited a random sample of Restore Louisiana Homeowners. On page 6 of the HUD OIG bullet point "Miscalculated assistance amounts for applicants because it did not always confirm information provided by FEMA, NFIP, or SBA and in some cases did not use information provided by applicants, resulting in 1 instance of underpayment and 10 instances of over payments."

You will find the following.

"For the underpayment, the State used SBA data showing that the applicant received $20,000, although the applicant had not received any funds from SBA, which resulted in the applicant’s qualifying for additional funding and having to participate in a second award process."

Resource HUD OIG: Audit Report Number: 2018-FW-1007 Date: September 28, 2018 https://www.hudoig.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2018-FW-1007.pdf

I have researched and found we may actually have over 1,000 homeowners similar to the one that HUD OIG Found.

Please share this page so we can find those that the State of Louisiana penalized for having SBA loans when in actuality they never received a dime from the SBA and were declined by the SBA.