Displaying items by tag: covid loan tracker

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

As most small business owners already know, the Paycheck Protection Program has been nothing short of a debacle. According to COVID Loan Tracker, still only around 10% of those who applied for PPP have received their money. As this new round of PPP funding arrives on Monday, COVID Loan Tracker has launched a partnership with Fundera to help small business owners apply for PPP.

Generally speaking, it is a very good idea to work with online lending platforms like Fundera, Lendio, and those similar. Their model for processing PPPs has proven quite successful, and we can see it in our data. See why below.

Apply for PPP with COVID Loan Tracker

After vetting several partners, here is why COVID Loan Tracker decided to work with Fundera:

1. Faster and more successful: we can see in our data that online platforms like Fundera had the highest success rates. Your application is offered to many lenders, and placed to one that is ready to process them, so you have better odds of success and faster processing times.
2. Transparency and Communication: PPP applicants will receive updates on a regular basis—this is the most transparent PPP application available.
3. Reputable and vetted: Fundera has good reviews and our founders (Duncan+Rita) personally spoke with their CEO and CTO for due diligence.
4. Pre-applications: you can fill out the application now to have it ready once PPP gets more funding.

Apply for PPP with COVID Loan Tracker

One of the key challenges small businesses have faced in this process is not having all the documentation needed to process the PPP application. In fact, CovidLoanTracker.com sees it here through their PPP application: so far only about 50% of businesses who begin the application process actually complete it.

The number one reason for this? They don’t have everything they need.

CNBC has reported the same issue:

“A lack of preparation is one of the most common mistakes that owners made when applying for PPP loans during the first round, says Rob Scott, Great Lakes regional administrator for the SBA.”

So, what exactly do you need to have ready? Here’s a helpful checklist, but let’s break-it-down and try to keep it simple:

• Driver’s license: front & back photos/scans for every person who owns 20% of more of the company

• All the company formation documents you can get hold of: certificate of registration, any operating agreements, anything that gets to how the company was formed and is structured legally

• Tax returns: at least two if not three years of tax returns beginning most importantly with the 2019 return

• Payroll is the and most important trickiest part. So here’s what you should try to get from your payroll service provider:

The last twelve full months of payroll, and then calculate the “average monthly” payroll from that. BUT - some banks are actually asking for that monthly average to be calculated from the calendar year 2019. Our advice? Do both! Have as much ready as possible.

IMPORTANT: what are payroll costs? some small business owners are confused. It’s everything, INCLUDING 401(k) and health insurance contributions (including employer contributions). Quite simply: salary, wage, commission and tips, vacation, medical, parental and sick pay. It ALSO includes payment for group healthcare benefits, including insurance premiums paid. All costs in there. Even payroll taxes!

Mortgage, rent, utility documents, etc: your big ongoing expenses

Proof your business is in good standing

Proof the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted your business

Finally, and often overlooked, check your business credit file and make sure it’s up to date and correct. About 25% of companies have found their business credit files are inaccurate, A good place to check is through Nav.

Preparation is most of the battle - and having all your documents in order and ready-to-go will help you nail the PPP application process.

Let us know how your process goes or if we missed important items that you discover you needed.

If you have been confused about the exhaustion of the Paycheck Protection Program in the context of hearing so many stories that people have not received money, you are not alone. There has been a huge public outcry about the program. It is not just that so many big companies got the money, it is that so FEW others did. Less than 7% of businesses got approval.

At COVID Loan Tracker, we have been watching actual loan disbursements, not just approvals, by relying on fellow small business owners. The results have been stark. Thus far, only 8.1% of business report receiving any money. 28% say that they have received “approval” but have not gotten money yet. COVID Loan Tracker has had around 20,000 company submissions that track around $7 bn in PPP applications. See full stats here.

Here are the stats as of 6 am this morning (4/21/20):

PPP application approval rate: 28%
Percent of PPP applications actually received money: 8.1%
Median successful PPP application: 120,000
Median employees: 15

Percent of EIDL advance applications received money: 8.0%
Median money received: $5,000
Median employees: 5

COVID Loan Tracker was started by small business owners Duncan and Rita MacDonald-Korth to help their fellow small business owners understand when PPP and EIDL advance money starts flowing. The site works by crowdsourcing knowledge on applications and loan disbursements. Our goal is to help the small business community and empower journalists with the data they need to keep the government accountable.