Displaying items by tag: PPP loans

(New York)

PPP has been nothing short of a disaster. Big companies gobbled up all the money first, leaving small businesses without the capital they needed to survive. Those big businesses then had the rules changed so that the capital is no longer attractive. By the time that small businesses could really access money, the terms around forgiveness have grown so uncertain that many don’t even want it, according to COVID Loan Tracker, a site that tracks PPP loan disbursement. Now, for those who have already accepted a loan there is a new problem—workers don’t want to be hired back. In many cases workers are getting more on unemployment than they are from being re-hired, and coupled with the fact that many can’t find childcare right now, it makes little economic sense to return to work. This has very bad ramifications for small business owners, as if they cannot rehire their workers, then the forgive-ability of their loans is seriously in question.

FINSUM: This program has been full of mismanagement and unintended consequences, and businesses all over the country are feeling the brunt.

The Paycheck Protection Program landscape has been beyond challenging for small business owners. According to COVID Loan Tracker, as of April 30th, only 10.2% of small business owners report actually receiving PPP loans. That compares to the 30% that say they have already received “approval” for the loan by the SBA. That is a huge lag when you are trying to pay employees.

However, for some, that is not even the biggest issue, as just applying itself is a major headache. Not only are the forms one must submit difficult, but many banks won’t let you apply if you are not a customer, so many are stuck in seemingly hopeless queues at giant banks. With that mind, below is a list of sources where you can apply WITHOUT being a customer.

1. COVID Loan Tracker has partnered with Fundera to offer its own PPP app. Applying with online lending platforms like Fundera increases your chances of success because they are connected to a multitude of lenders and only place your application with banks ready to process them. CLT can see in its data that online lending platforms have had very high success rates in getting PPP loans approved.

APPLY FOR PPP with COVID Loan Tracker/Fundera

2. First State Bank: https://1st.bank/ppp/
3. Banc First: https://www.bancfirst.bank/cares/ppp-apply
4. Eastern Bank: https://www.easternbank.com/ppp-request
5. People’s Bank and Trust: https://www.peoples.bank/ppp
6. TCF Bank: https://commercial.tcfbank.com/sbappp/s/application?

COVID Loan Tracker was started by small business owners Duncan and Rita MacDonald-Korth to help their fellow small business owners understand where PPP and EIDL money is flowing. We are empowering the business community and journalists with the data they need to keep the government accountable.

COVID Loan Tracker was founded by small business owners to help fellow entrepreneurs understand when their PPP and EIDL loans will be paid. The SBA has provided very poor leadership and information, and the need for real data about when loans are actually being disbursed has never been higher. Please help yourself and fellow small business owners by filling out our survey so we can all understand when we will get our loans.

FILL OUT THE SURVEY TO HELP SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS

The SBA has been very short on details throughout the Paycheck Protection Program. While they have released “approval” numbers, there is no data on how many loans have actually been disbursed. If you are a small business owner, approval means nothing and disbursement means everything—you cannot pay employees with an approval, you need cash. With that min mind, COVID Loan Tracker has launched live stats which track the disbursement rate of PPP loans right on its home page.

You can instantly see what percent of loans have been disbursed, the median processing time, the total volume of loans processed, the median size of loan, the median employees of successful applicants and more. For a deeper dive, view the DATA page, which includes more in-depth charting.

And if you still need to apply for PPP, you can do it here.

As of 10:30 AM Eastern this morning, the PPP Program re-opened for applications from this “bucket” of $310 Billion, as the first bucket of $349 Billion rapidly was depleted.

PLEASE HELP SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS BY FILLING OUT THE SURVEY

Has demand waned? On the contrary:

Not even 10 minutes after a government relief loan program for small businesses relaunched on Monday, lenders reported that the U.S. Small Business Administration system was overwhelmed and inaccessible with a flood of applications.
Lenders from across the country were saying they couldn’t get into the SBA’s system when the Paycheck Protection Program relaunched at 10:30 a.m. New York Time, said Paul Merski of the Independent Community Bankers of America. The system was down as early as 10:34 a.m. in New York, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Which is why we even put out a press release this morning demanding an additional $400 Billion rapidly be allocated to the program so the overall funding exceeds $1 Trillion.

The Federal government seems to imply that the $310B number was sufficient because that’s about how many applications were stranded that couldn’t get funded in the first round – about 1 million.

Here’s the thing, however, that’s not the true number. Based on our survey data and our estimation, over 4 million applications were not completed based on a variety of factors – including glitches on the SBA’s site, problems with the lenders, etc.

Which means even this next $310 Billion won’t be enough and why we called for at least an additional $400 Billion – with rules for disbursement that will make sure TRULY small businesses benefit, and not just large companies masquerading as small ones. Read more here, and if you haven’t yet, be sure to submit an application.

COVID Loan Tracker was started by small business owners Duncan and Rita MacDonald-Korth to help their fellow small business owners understand where PPP and EIDL money is flowing. We are empowering the business community and journalists with the data they need to keep the government accountable.

APPLY FOR PPP WITH COVID LOAN TRACKER

So much of the focus of the media covering the Paycheck Protection program has been about the awful pace and communication about application processes and approvals. However, what has been less covered is just how difficult the application process itself is. At COVID Loan Tracker, we have gotten a rare insight into the difficulties everyday small business owners are having with the application process because of the thousands of emails we are getting from CLT community members.

PLEASE HELP SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS BY FILLING OUT THE SURVEY

Those general struggles are a story for a separate article, but today we want to focus on the challenges the application process poses for immigrants and those for whom English is a second language. IRS forms in particular, which are a crucial and obligatory part of the application for every lender, are made for professional accountants, not genuine small business owners. Terms and terminology are difficult even if you are a native English speaker. If you are not one, they are nearly impossible.

The IRS does offer forms in a few languages, but not all lenders are equipped to process such forms with an expediency, which means the default language is inevitably English. Amplifying this issue is the fact that immigrants become entrepreneurs and small business owners at almost 4x the rate of native born Americans*. This means that per capita, immigrants are much more likely to deal with PPP applications issues than native-born Americans. Furthermore, the types of business that immigrants own**—gas stations, drycleaners, nail salons, hotels & motels, and specialty food stores—have been particularly hard hit by the shutdown. Therefore, in many ways the Paycheck Program excludes immigrants almost by design, and resultantly, the COVID-19 lockdown poses a much larger threat to the livelihood of immigrants than it does to native-born Americans.

COVID Loan Tracker was started by small business owners Duncan and Rita MacDonald-Korth to help their fellow small business owners understand where PPP and EIDL money is flowing. We are empowering the business community and journalists with the data they need to keep the government accountable.

Apply for PPP with COVID Loan Tracker

*https://immigrationforum.org/article/immigrants-as-economic-contributors-immigrant-entrepreneurs/
** https://immigrationforum.org/article/immigrants-as-economic-contributors-immigrant-entrepreneurs/