APRIL 29, 2020

News Roundup for Small Business Owners

The latest news about relief efforts for small businesses, particularly via the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL).

• Hooray for Interim Final Rules. For those scoring at home, the Treasury Department issued Version 6 last night. This update had to do with disbursements (i.e., can a borrower have multiple loan disbursements? no; how does the disbursement calendar work? 10 calendar days, etc.), so if you have received a loan and have questions about disbursement of your funds, you should read it. The one interesting thing I saw was that lenders will not receive their fee “if the PPP loan is cancelled or voluntarily terminated and repaid after disbursement.” (Treasury Department)
• The SBA and Treasury Department issued a joint statement in regards to audits on loans of over $2M. In addition to saying that regulatory guidance would be forthcoming (what’s the over/under on Interim Final Rules? 10.5?), the note seemed to imply there would be less scrutiny if the borrower did not apply for forgiveness. I’ll be keeping my eye out for what that really means. Hopefully they will clarify how they will close some of these loopholes that have allowed companies to use the loans for growth rather than relief. (Treasury Department, NPR)
• I have been a bit harsh on the rollout of this program, with its technological glitches and misuse by large companies. But to give credit where it’s due, the SBA has been working at an extraordinary pace, processing now about $500 billion in loans in just a few weeks. For context, the SBA guaranteed about $30 billion in loans in all of 2019. It hasn’t been easy. This behind-the-scenes story shows just how chaotic it’s been for the beleaguered agency. (Fortune)
• The SBA is limiting PPP loan submissions to small lenders for a window today. From 4 p.m. until midnight, only banks with less than $1 billion in assets can submit applications. This was in response to complaints that the traffic is causing errors. They will evaluate to determine if they will do a similar window again later. (Politico)

Previous Entries:

Tuesday, April 28 | Monday, April 27 | Friday, April 24 | Thursday, April 23 | Wednesday, April 22 | Tuesday, April 21 | Monday, April 20 | Friday, April 17 | Thursday, April 16 | Wednesday, April 15 | Tuesday, April 14 | Monday, April 13 | Friday, April 10 | Thursday, April 9 | Wednesday, April 8 | Tuesday, April 7 | Monday, April 6

Masterplans is a veteran-owned business that specializes in providing the highest-level business development consulting located in Portland, Oregon. For 17 years we have helped thousands of entrepreneurs launch new businesses and put their ideas in motion. Now, more than ever, we want to see these same businesses survive the largest economic disaster of our generation.