Main Street Monday: USDA Suspends B&I Loan Applications November 20 

November 2, 2026

Bob Coleman
Founder & Publisher

Main Street Monday: USDA Suspends B&I Loan Applications November 20

USDA will not accept new Business and Industry (B&I) Guaranteed Loan applications and servicing requests through its OneRD portal at 5 p.m. Eastern beginning on Friday, November 20. 

USDA says, “If an application or servicing request is incomplete, or if USDA is unable to process the application by December 31, USDA will return the unprocessed package, and the lender will be required to resubmit it through the new portal.” 

USDA has not announced a specific January reopening date.

USDA will grant extensions for conditional commitments expiring between November 20, 2026 and February 28, 2027, allowing loan note guarantees to be processed through the replacement system.

The National Rural Lenders Association’s 2025 economic assessment provides context on the volume of financing handled through the B&I program.

The association reports $1.799 billion in B&I loan obligations during FY2024, compared with $1.862 billion in FY2023, a decline of 3.4%.

B&I used 98.24% of its $1.831 billion program allotment in FY2024, compared with 90.83% in FY2023.

The B&I program provides federal guarantees on commercial loans financing rural business acquisitions, expansions, commercial real estate, equipment and eligible debt refinancing. Eligible projects must be located in rural areas with populations below 50,000.

The portal transition is part of USDA’s broader Rural Development modernization initiative described in a September 4 Federal Register notice.

The replacement system is designed to consolidate customer records, provide electronic eligibility tools and support online transactions.

B&I will be the first program to transition, followed by Community Facilities and Water and Environmental programs.