Metro

A surge in loan rejections

Hurricane Sandy victims are now getting socked by a wave of loan rejections.

Almost three-quarters of applications for federal emergency disaster-relief loans are being turned down, according to data from the Small Business Administration.

Out of 1,050 business-loan applications that have been processed, 767 have been rejected and only 283 have been approved, according to the SBA. Another 3,552 have not been processed.

Now, homeowners and small businesses are scrambling to recover without the funds.

The Water’s Edge, a popular Glen Cove, LI, restaurant and event space, has been closed since Sandy and was counting on a $165,000 loan to reopen.

“The SBA said, ‘Your credit score is not high enough.’ I said, ‘You are crazy. I just paid you back a $4 million loan in 2007,’ ” said owner Joe Weiser, referring to a previous loan.

“They had no bad experience with me at all.”

Weiser was lucky when his restaurant, which he opened in 1998, was spared from serious structural damage.

But right before the storm hit, he stocked his walk-in freezer with $115,000 worth of food for the upcoming holiday season — and it all went bad when the power was out for two weeks.

His private insurance wasn’t helping, so he sought out a federal emergency loan that would allow him to restock and rehire the 35 people on staff.

His suppliers already agreed to put off payment for his pre-Sandy order and re-fill his pantry immediately if he could pay in cash.

But the SBA rejected his application.

Weiser thinks a lien slapped on him by a supplier days after Sandy — for a missed Nov. 1 payment — spooked the SBA.

“In seven years I had loans on the books, I was never late on payments,” he said. “What more do they need?”

And homeowners — who can apply for as much as $200,000 to help rebuild — face a rejection rate of 22 percent from the SBA.

So far, 6,864 of 30,613 of those applications were nixed, and 6,302 were approved.

SBA spokesman Michael Lampton said most loans are rejected because of poor credit scores, outstanding debt and the belief that the applicant won’t be able to pay it all back.He said the rejection rates in New York are similar to other disaster loans in other parts of the country.