Eligibility Requirements
The ability to qualify for financial assistance is available for individuals who:
- Experienced discrimination prior to January 1, 2021, by the USDA in its farm lending programs, which are currently administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA).
OR
- Are currently debtors with assigned or assumed USDA farm lending debt that was the subject of USDA discrimination that occurred before January 1, 2021. (This applies, for example, if you inherited the debt that was the subject of USDA farm lending discrimination by USDA).
Lending Covered by the Program
Discrimination experienced in all USDA lending programs qualifies for the ability to apply for financial assistance through this program. Eligible farm lending programs include:
- Farm Ownership Loans (FO)
- Farm Operating Loans (OL)
- Microloans (ML)
- Youth Loans (YL)
- Farm Storage Facility Loans (FSFL)
- Emergency Loans (EM)
- Economic Emergency Loans (EE)
- Emergency Livestock Loans (EL)
- Soil and Water Loans (SW)
- Conservation Loans (CL)
- Softwood Timber Loans (ST)
- Grazing Loans
Note: the program covers both USDA direct and guaranteed lending through USDA’s Farm Service Agency (or its predecessor, the Farmers Home Administration)—but for applicants who participated in guaranteed loan programs, discrimination by the non-USDA lender does not qualify for this program. Only discrimination by USDA personnel in USDA lending is covered.
Eligibility
To be eligible to participate in the program, you must:
- Be or have been a farmer or would-be farmer.
- Be or have been a participant or would-be participant in farm-lending.
- Have experienced discrimination by USDA in USDA farm lending, or be a debtor with assigned or assumed USDA farm lending debt that was the subject of USDA discrimination.
- Be able to verify your identity.
- Provide information to substantiate the discrimination experienced.
Note: Individuals who have personally prevailed and obtained money or loan forgiveness in a prior case addressing discrimination in USDA farm lending programs are eligible to participate in this program.
Types of Discrimination Covered
This program covers discrimination based on the different treatment you experienced because of:
- Race, color, or national origin/ethnicity (including status as a member of an Indian Tribe)
- Sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity
- Religion
- Age
- Marital status
- Disability
- Reprisal/retaliation for prior civil rights activity
How Discrimination Occurred
If discrimination was the cause, the following are examples of how that discrimination may have been experienced. Please note that this list does not indicate all potential, covered discrimination, nor does it limit a potential applicant’s ability to apply:
- Failure to provide appropriate assistance.
- Delay in processing loan or loan servicing application.
- Denial of a loan or loan servicing.
- Prevention from applying for a loan or loan servicing.
- Adverse loan terms.
- Unduly onerous supervision of loan requirements.
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