HASCAP Loans
Highly Affected Sectors Credit Availability Program Loans
On February 1, the Canadian HASCAP Loans program is now open and accepting applications.
What is HASCAP? Canadian businesses heavily impacted by COVID-19 and the global pandemic can access guaranteed, low-interest loans of $25,000 to $1 million to cover operational cash flow needs. The funds are guaranteed by the Canadian government through the BDC.
This Website was designed to provide a list of resources for Highly-Affected Canadian Businesses. It is not the official website, and it is for information purposes only.
Canadian businesses, particularly those in travel, tourism, and hospitality have been hard hit by COVID-19. The Canadian government has launched several initiatives since the pandemic was first identified. HASCAP (or the Highly Affected Sectors Loan Credit Availability Program) is the latest in this series of initiatives to help Canadian businesses access capital and loans when they need it most.
A HASCAP Loan provides guaranteed, low-interest loans of $25,000 to $1 million to cover operational cash flow needs. If you need a Canadian Small Business loan for other purposes, or are not eligible for HASCAP, then consider this option.
Applications for the HASCAP Loan need to be administered through your primary financial institution. Businesses can start applying as early as February 1 at principal financial institutions (i.e. the big banks of BMO, RBC, CIBC, Scotiabank, TD Bank, and National Bank ) and more widely by February 15 (i.e. smaller institutions).
Interested businesses are instructed to contact their primary lender to get more information and to apply. We will aim to update with links to the Canadian banks HASCAP Loan pages as we discover them.
“Scotiabank is proud to collaborate once again with the BDC and the Canadian government to make programs like HASCAP available to those businesses that have been most impacted by the pandemic,” said Dan Rees, Group Head, Canadian Banking for Scotiabank. “Scotiabank remains committed to supporting the economic recovery of Canadian businesses as we look to a future beyond this pandemic with confidence and optimism.”
Learn more about Scotiabank’s HASCAP Loan Offering
“We’re here and ready to continue our support for Canadian entrepreneurs through financial impacts from the pandemic,” said Laura Dottori-Attanasio, Group Head, Personal and Business Banking. “This additional loan program from the Government of Canada is another way to ensure a degree of continuity for hardworking small and medium-sized businesses across the country that have been hard hit by COVID-19. We’re committed to continuing to be there for our clients, including facilitating access to these key additional funds.”
Learn more about CIBC’s HASCAP Loan Offering
“The importance of supporting the industries that have been hardest hit by COVID – like tourism, hotels, arts and culture, and the airline sector – cannot be understated. These sectors have a significant impact on our economy, and these relief measures will help to mitigate the financial headwinds they have faced,” said Nadim Hirji, Co-Head, Canadian Commercial Banking, BMO Financial Group. “We continue to encourage our business clients to reach out to us to understand how we can support their needs. We want to help those operating in the industries hardest hit by the pandemic on their way back up.”
Learn more about BMO’s HASCAP Loan Offering
“We know the coming months will continue to be hard for a lot of businesses across Canada and we remain committed to helping support them through these difficult times,” said Greg Grice, Executive Vice-President, Business Financial Services, RBC. “HASCAP, combined with other relief and grant programs offered nationally and provincially, will go a long way towards helping some of Canada’s hardest hit businesses in their recovery.”
