Yes, I thank the Federal Govt for passing the Relief package of $2T with a carve out to small businesses to help the American worker. The portion for small businesses is $350B. As with anything done quickly, many procedural and specific guidelines follow. The issues here this past week were Treasury, SBA and the certified bank lenders who are already SBA lenders, about 1,800. In a nutshell, language in the initial bill held banks liable if these loans are not paid (yes they can be forgiven) as some will ultimately pay because they may not hire employees back. The other aspect is possible fraudulent information from the borrower which the banks would be validating under normal conditions. Fortunately much of this was resolved Friday. One week from the time the Bill was passed. Say what you will, but that's **** impressive. I'm a banker for 20 plus and have never seen anything like this or something passed so quickly and put into action. My team is working around the clock and this weekend to make sure we assist our clients.
Now to the topic as to where you can apply. Every bank is doing it differently. As an example, Bank of America is only assisting business customers, but specifically that have existing loans. This created major frustrations for those customers. Hope they change there position this coming week. I personally received half dozen calls Friday afternoon from BOA business customers that I know who have already been turned away. I feel for them. Chase is another who will only assist existing customers ~ do not know their specifics.
Please check with your bank for guideline. The SBA application, documentation and calculator is all the same but it's what your bank is doing specifically beyond the requirements. Another question I've received is can I go to a bank I don't bank with? Please check. Some banks are accepting applications from non-customers. At my firm we are, however, and this is extremely important to understand, a business checking account has to be opened first. You may ask why? First, if you are approved for the PPP, the funds will be deposited into the bank that submitted the application and specific into the customer's bank account. Second, the bank does not know their new customer and normal KYC and AML guidelines still apply. This will result into a bit of delay. Normal turn time to open a new business account for us is 2 days. With all our focus and attention to the PPP, new account openings is estimated to take 4 days +/- one day. What's the risk? Funding for the PPP might dry up. This coming week is expected to be a flurry. As of Friday night, my firm received over 8,000 applications and waiting for the Etran nbr from SBA. Have no idea at the moment how many apps we have accepted over the weekend as literally we have hundreds of employees working this weekend keying in the information.
Lastly, I do believe more relief will come to small businesses and the American worker.
God Bless America. Stay safe everyone. Please stay home and minimize going outside.
Go Canes!!