Here’s a tip for small-business owners trying to fill out the Small Business Administration’s new online COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program application: Use Google’s Chrome browser, not Safari.
Unfortunately, the online form for the SBA’s COVID-19 loans doesn’t function correctly using Apple’s browser.
In Safari, the multipage application won’t advance to the next page for mysterious reasons. The “Next” button at the bottom of the page remains grayed out no matter how many times you fill out the relevant fields on the page. However, the online application works fine in Chrome. (Cult of Mac didn’t test it using other browsers.)
The SBA’s new streamlined COVID-19 disaster loan form is like too many online forms and websites that don’t function correctly in Safari. As a general rule, if you run into trouble filling out information in Safari, switch to Chrome. It often works.
Sadly, web developers often treat Safari like a second-class citizen. Safari garners about a 16% share of web browser usage, according to StatCounter Global Stats. Meanwhile, Chrome — the internet’s most popular browser — commands about a 65% share.
SBA COVID-19 disaster loans
According to reports, the SBA is being besieged with applications for the loans as small businesses scramble to survive during the coronavirus-fueled economic shutdown. While big companies like Apple face daunting challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many small businesses face existential threats.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, small-business owners are flocking to the SBA’s COVID-19 loan program. But it’s not always smooth sailing. Wait times for phone help can take three hours or more. Many people complain online about encountering random crashes and freezes during the online application process. Worse yet, the problems often happen after they’ve spent hours filling in numbers and other details about their operations.
The SBA’s Disaster Loan Assistance is part of the federal government’s emergency response to the COVID-19 disaster. Congress passed three stimulus bills to make much-needed cash available to America’s 30 million small businesses. The SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) aren’t new, but this is the first time a pandemic has been classified as a disaster, making businesses across the United States eligible to apply.
The SBA’s loans look pretty favorable:
- Loans up to $2 million
- No loan fees or prepayment fees
- 30-year terms
- Interest rates of 3.75% for small business and 2.75% for nonprofits
- First month’s payments deferred for a full year
- No obligation to take the loan
You can find more info at the SBA’s disaster assistance page.
Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac.
Leander is a longtime technology reporter and the author of six acclaimed books about Apple, including two New York Times bestsellers: Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products and Inside Steve’s Brain, a biography of Steve Jobs.
He’s also written a top-selling biography of Apple CEO Tim Cook and authored Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod, which both won prestigious design awards. Most recently, he was co-author of Cult of Mac, 2nd Edition.
Leander has been reporting about Apple and technology for nearly 30 years.
Before founding Cult of Mac as an independent publication, Leander was news editor at Wired.com, where he was responsible for the day-to-day running of the Wired.com website. He headed up a team of six section editors, a dozen reporters and a large pool of freelancers. Together the team produced a daily digest of stories about the impact of science and technology, and won several awards, including several Webby Awards, 2X Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism and the 2010 MIN (Magazine Industry Newsletter) award for best blog, among others.
Before being promoted to news editor, Leander was Wired.com’s senior reporter, primarily covering Apple. During that time, Leander published a ton of scoops, including the first in-depth report about the development of the iPod. Leander attended almost every keynote speech and special product launch presented by Steve Jobs, including the historic launches of the iPhone and iPad. He also reported from almost every Macworld Expo in the late ’90s and early ‘2000s, including, sadly, the last shows in Boston, San Francisco and Tokyo. His reporting for Wired.com formed the basis of the first Cult of Mac book, and subsequently this website.
Before joining Wired, Leander was a senior reporter at the legendary MacWeek, the storied and long-running weekly that documented Apple and its community in the 1980s and ’90s.
Leander has written for Wired magazine (including the Issue 16.04 cover story about Steve Jobs’ leadership at Apple, entitled Evil/Genius), Scientific American, The Guardian, The Observer, The San Francisco Chronicle and many other publications.
Leander has a postgrad diploma in artificial intelligence from the University of Aberdeen, and a BSc (Hons) in experimental psychology from the University of Sussex.
He has a diploma in journalism from the UK’s National Council for the Training of Journalists.
Leander lives in San Francisco, California, and is married with four children. He’s an avid biker and has ridden in many long-distance bike events, including California’s legendary Death Ride.
You can find out more about Leander on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can follow him on X at @lkahney or Instagram.
