More than 2.3 million business owners borrowed a total of 5 5,525 billion through the Paycheck program, which used banks and other lenders as employers to provide loans. From April to August, small businesses were encouraged to lend cash for an eight-week payroll and some other expenses. Once the money is spent, their borrowers have to apply through their bank so that the government can repay their loan.
But lenders who want business owners to start a loan waiver process are mostly unprepared to work on those applications until clarification from Congress, especially due to the low cost and complexity of handling the loan. A loan waiver proposal has been tabled in both the House and Senate with bipartisan support – Treasury Secretary Steven Munchin said he is a supporter – and is likely to join if Congress passes an economic relief bill, but the future of such legislation is uncertain. The presidential election is just weeks away.
West Palm Beach, Fla. Ed Sterling, president of Flagler Bank, said the lenders were “waiting on the edge of our seats” for legislators’ legal action. He said the process of reviewing a loan waiver application would take three times as long as it would take his bank to initiate a loan.
The administration of small businesses has been slow to process loan waiver applications sent by lenders. The agency began accepting forms on August 10th. By the end of September, it had received 96,000, but not a single application had been approved or denied, its chief of staff, William Menger, told a House subcommittee hearing. By law, the agency has 90 days to respond after receiving the application. A representative of the agency said it had sent the first approvals and loan repayments to the banks on October two.
Lynn Ozre, a banker specializing in microfinance, said Lancaster, Pa. The creditors who worked with her at Fulton Bank were likely to fear that they would be forgiven their debts if mistakes were made on their paper.
“We can’t help our borrowers if we don’t understand the guidance ourselves,” she said. Ozer said.
Trapped in the middle are business owners like L Ku Kujala, co-owner of Northwest Treatment, a consultancy center near Portland, near Ray. Kujala got a loan of 34 34,000,000 in April, when she and her business partner helped retain three of their employees while their income nodded.
Now, Ms. Kujala wants to repay the loan, but her lender U.S. The bank has not yet opened its waiver portal. Ms. Kulala – who estimates she spent just five hours collecting records and preparing her application – is so concerned about the many rules of the loan and the potential tripper that she keeps all the money she receives in a reserve account, only in her case. Not sorry (He drew his business savings to make a payroll, and will repay if his loan is discharged.)
