Furloughed Federal Employee Relief Program (FFERP)

Why is BND charging interest?

• The requirement for a small interest charge is not BND or the State’s way of making money off the federal shutdown. Article 10, Section 18 of the North Dakota Constitution, commonly referred to as the anti-gifting clause, “prohibits the state from giving its credit or making donations to or in aid of any individual, association or corporation.” A zero percent interest loan would violate the constitution under this section.
  
  This is the complete section for reference:
  “Section 18. The state, any county or city may make internal improvements and may engage in any industry, enterprise or business, not prohibited by article XX of the constitution, but neither the state nor any political subdivision thereof shall otherwise loan or give its credit or make donations to or in aid of any individual, association or corporation except for reasonable support of the poor, nor subscribe to or become the owner of capital stock in any association or corporation.”

Is there a maximum loan amount for the Furloughed Federal Employee Relief Program (FFERP)?

• Civilian Federal Employees: The maximum loan amount is equal to the borrower’s net bi-weekly base pay times six (6).
• Armed service members stationed in North Dakota: The maximum loan amount is equal to the borrower’s net monthly base pay times three (3) or if borrower is paid semi-monthly, the maximum loan amount is equal to their net semi-monthly base pay times six (6).

When does repayment begin?

• The loan shall be repaid in three equal consecutive monthly installments of principal and interest, amortized over three months. The first payment date will be three months from whichever occurs first: the date of the first missed paycheck for which they are taking an advance or the date of the initial advance.

If a borrower does not apply for a loan at the time of their first missed paycheck but applies later, for example, at the time of the second missed paycheck, can they receive advances for both the first and second missed paychecks?

• Yes. If the borrower applies after the first missed paycheck, they may receive advances covering both the first and second missed paychecks; however, the maturity date then would be determined based off of the date of the first missed paycheck and not off of the date of the initial advance. The first payment is due three months from the date of the first missed paycheck in this situation.

If a borrower takes their first advance at the time of the second missed paycheck, are they still eligible for the full three months of advances?

• Yes, they remain eligible for the full three months of missed paychecks based on the base net pay. The first payment date in this scenario will be three months from the date of the first advance, since they are only advancing for the amount of the current missed paycheck and are not requesting to advance funds from the previous missed paycheck.  

If a borrower chooses not to take an advance for the first missed paycheck and only applies for an advance at the time of the second missed paycheck, can the maturity dates be based on the second missed paycheck?

• Yes. If no advance is made for the first missed paycheck, the maturity dates may be based on the first advance date which is the date of the second missed paycheck.

What if both spouses in a married couple are federal employees?

• If both spouses are federal employees, they may apply for one loan to cover the sum of both of their lost net pay, as long as they have the same pay dates and eligibility is met for both of them. If they do not have the same pay dates, they will need to apply for separate loans.

When can borrowers apply for the loan?

• Applications will be accepted October 10, 2025 through January 2, 2026, or until the federal government shutdown ends, as determined by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), whichever occurs first.

What happens after an application is submitted to BND?

• Bank of North Dakota (BND) will review the application in the order it is received. Once approved, BND will issue a commitment letter and Furloughed Federal Employee Relief Program (FFERP) Loan Agreement via email. After the commitment letter is received, your financial institution can prepare the loan documents, execute them with your borrower, and then submit them to BND per the instructions on the commitment letter.

When is the first advance available?

• The first advance will be available on the date of the borrower’s first missed paycheck, as long as the government is still shut down on that date.

Does the borrower have to take the loan for the first missed paycheck?

• No. If they do not apply prior to their first missed paycheck and the shutdown continues, they may apply later and receive an advance for their next missed paycheck.

Will members of the armed services who received their October 15 paycheck still be eligible for the program?

• They will be eligible to apply, however, since they received the October 15 paycheck, the first missed paycheck they would be eligible for at this time is the October 31 paycheck, as long as the government is still shutdown at that time and they do not receive their October 31 paycheck. In this scenario, the first payment date would be three months from the date of the first advance, so January 31, 2026, and the maturity date would be March 31, 2026.