Just Who Is Getting These Small Business Loans?
Almost nobody we know…
We realize this is hardly scientific, but after seeing friends who operate small businesses comparing notes all last week (on Twitter, Facebook, etc.), about how they’re not seeing emergency loan money from the federal government that they applied for and are qualified for — and more importantly, need — we decided to take some time this weekend to call around.
We spoke to about a dozen friends, and friends of friends, all of whom would seem to qualify for relief through the federal government’s emergency small business programs, based on the requirements appearing on the government’s web pages for those programs. And all of them already have submissions for loans in.
And we asked: have they received any money yet?
The answer? Only one. He got $1,000.
In fact, several people we talked to said all they got was an email acknowledging they’d sent in an expression of interest for inclusion in the program to which they applied. Since then, nothing.
Some others, who have been aggressively pursuing their banks, say those banks are going out of their way to avoid them.
Crazy thing about all this is there’s no risk to banks to make loans of this kind. So processing at a snail’s pace —…
