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PPP Loan Relaunch Already Beset With Problems

Congress approved $310 billion more for the coronavirus relief program, but system glitches and crashes were preventing lenders from processing applications.

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) relaunched on Monday, April 27, but was already plagued by glitches and crashes, according to multiple news reports, amid speculation that the new funding would disappear quickly.

PPP

The PPP, established last month through the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, is a forgivable loan program overseen by the Small Business Administration (SBA) meant to help keep workers employed during the coronavirus pandemic. The initial $349 billion set aside to fund the program was depleted in just two weeks, and Congress last week approved $310 billion more to replenish the popular, if problem-plagued program.

The SBA said it would resume accepting PPP applications from lenders at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The SBA also announced that it would resume processing Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) and loan advance applications that were already in its queue on a first-come first-served basis. The SBA also indicated on its website that it would provide further information on the availability of the EIDL portal to receive new applications soon. (The EIDL program offers emergency grants of up to $10,000 and loans of up to $2 million for small businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The new round of funding provided $60 billion more for the two programs.)

Still, it didn’t take long for problems to arise once the PPP loan application reopened. Minutes after the SBA began accepting loan applications, lenders were reporting that they either couldn’t access the system or were being kicked out as they tried to process small-business owners’ applications, Paul Merski of the Independent Community Bankers of America told Bloomberg. “Bankers are sitting there refreshing their screen every 15 minutes trying to get in,” Merski told Bloomberg. “It’s very frustrating.”

The second round of PPP funding could run out in just 72 hours, according to Juleanna Glover, a D.C.-based corporate public affairs adviser who has been tracking the program and spoke with The Washington Post. Many lenders had thousands of PPP applications filled out and waiting to be filed once the SBA reopened the program, leading to the system overloads.

More than 1.66 million small businesses have been helped by the PPP so far, supporting over 30 million jobs, according to estimates by the SBA and Treasury Department. A National Federation of Independent Business survey found that nearly 80% of small businesses that applied for a loan were still waiting for an answer after the first round of funding dried up. Several larger companies were lambasted for taking PPP money, despite having well over 500 employees. Shake Shack and several other corporations returned the money they received from the program.

The SBA issued guidance last week reminding larger companies that have adequate sources of liquidity that they may not be eligible for PPP money and may, in fact, be required to repay their PPP loans by May 7 if they can’t certify in good faith that the PPP loan is necessary to support their operations. The new round of funding also earmarked $60 billion to go to smaller community banks, to help spread the funds across a broader swath of American small businesses.