The following information was obtained from a conversation with my SBA lender contact at 7:00 p.m. on April 15, 2020. Please do not respond to this email as I have no further details to relay as of this moment. 

Many of you have applied for the PPP loan which became available to small businesses on April 3^rd. At the onset of this program (which was put together and approved by Congress very quickly but without much attention to detail) many lenders felt that $350 Billion would last through sometime in June. As of mid-afternoon today (April 15^th) it was announced to lenders that no more applications would be accepted (as the “e-tran” system utilized between lenders and the SBA was closed for PPP loans). 

How could this happen so quickly? Let me explain, or relay what was explained to me. 

Because of all the confusion about the application and documents required to apply, some lenders were accepting applications without requesting any documentation and the loan amounts requested were marked as “taken” by the SBA.  These weren’t actual approvals and may not be, but this caused the total available SBA funds to be depleted in record time. 

So, if you “applied” to your local bank and they did not request documentation, then the funds may have been removed from the total available from the SBA to everyone else. It does not  however guarantee that you are actually approved. If you did not hear back from your bank after submitting just an application and chose to apply elsewhere with required documentation it may be determined by the SBA that you already have a PPP loan (but you actually do not).  

May 4^th is the date that Congress is set to return and vote on an addendum to add another $250 Billion to the program. They may need to “come into work” early. 

This is all the information I have for now but will keep you posted as I learn more. 

It is important that if you were “approved” by your lender that you receive an actual confirmation. Until the loan goes to underwriting, an SBA # is not attached. I know some of you have closed on your loan and for that I say Congratulations! For the rest of us, let’s stay positive and hope that the additional funding is approved. In the meantime, you have your HHS deposit and emergency grant based on employee count (up to $10K) to “bank” on.