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Ask HN: How is your PPP loan application coming along?

• gamblor956 7y ago
  Unfortunately, if your loan was not already approved by your bank it's too late to receive a CARES loan as the (initial?) money ran out Wednesday, barring an expansion of the program.
  • AndrewBissell 7y ago
    Wednesday was April 15 and we submitted our application on April 6. I'm especially curious whether others who submitted an application as early as we did got a similar runaround from their bank.
    • TedDoesntTalk 7y ago
      same. applied very early on and did not get in. i think the banks are prioritizing certain customers or certain loan amounts over others. it's definitely not FIFO approval.
    • gamblor956 7y ago
      Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like your bank submitted your PPP loan application in time as SBA approval generally only takes a day.
  • ed 7y ago
    What matters is SBA approval, the bank’s approval is a separate matter and can lag behind SBA by a few days, due to the massive backlog of applications. I received notice my application was submitted to SBA Wednesday morning, right after they ran out of money. I thought I missed the cutoff, but was approved Thursday afternoon. So there’s a lot of uncertainty. The whole process is a mess and everyone is suffering, I really expect additional SBA funding will be approved soon. My understanding is that members of congress are holding out for hospital funds before allocating more to SBA.
    • gamblor956 7y ago
      The bank's approval is the primary approval that matters, since the banks only submitted PPP loan applications that met their internal requirements. Yes, I know that's not how the CARES Act was supposed to work, but that's how it actually ended up working at all of the major US banks. Note: the SBA cutoff announcement on Wednesday was based on both the loans already approved and those in the queue for SBA approval. Loans submitted after the announcement Wednesday evening were SOL.
• griffinkelly 7y ago
  I applied the day application opened as well as for the EIDL. No luck with either.
• judge2020 7y ago
  > Now I'm reading reports that the program is already out of money Correct, I received an email from Intuit today stating that the loan volume has been hit: https://i.judge.sh/ashamed/Derpy/chrome_YyblB6Znpm.png https://i.judge.sh/ashamed/Derpy/chrome_YyblB6Znpm.png
• rman666 7y ago
  I submitted our application on April 6. I got a confirmation number from my bank on the same day. My bank put up a status system on April 10. I check it every 4-8 hours. It's always "In Review". They did ask me for more details on our payroll, but it didn't apply. I sent an email with that update. Nothing since. My bank is PNC. Very unimpressed with their efforts/communication on this. But, it sounds like most large banks have not been very good about it.
• chrischen 7y ago
  I applied on 9th and had no significant update except about funds running out. The only people that I know who got it applied on the 5th or 6th (in all practical terms the actual launch day was the 5th). It’s very likely that the allocated funds actually ran out within 1-2 days of applications. The allocated funds were so paltry that whether you got it or not was based on luck. If you happened to pick a good bank with a short queue or good processing, or if your own bank prioritized you, then you were in luck. In my case our application didn’t even get reviewed the whole time, and the applying only one time rule blocked us from seeking some better bank.
• drchopchop 7y ago
  It's a mess, we have 10+ employees and are trying to get ~250K via Chase. We got in early, but the whole process is opaque, and now they're run out of money before our application was approved. Can probably survive another 4-6 weeks before layoffs, so hopefully they approve more cash early next week.
  • chrischen 7y ago
    The bill seems ill-thought out since as a general stimulus there was not enough to go around. For the amount they offered they should have targeted those that needed it or increased it so that it actually has an impact. Even the EIDL which was meant for affected businesses ran out and there was a paltry amount in there too.
    • s_y_n_t_a_x 7y ago
      Democrats have blocked a quick re-up of the funding. They're using it as leverage for funding elsewhere and more restrictions on lenders. IMO they should allow the funding now and give Republicans an olive branch like Republicans gave them with the last phase. It's really not the time for politics and playing the leverage game looks bad. I don't see why no one is mentioning this. It's wrong when both sides do things like this.
      • dashundchen 7y ago
        Plenty of people are mentioning it, it's all over the news. There was also plenty given to Republicans, when in the Senate they managed to include yet another tax giveaway costing $90 billion for 2020 alone. The benefits will almost entirely be received by millionaires and billionaires. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/14/coronavirus-law-congress-tax-change/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/14/coronavir... Personally I see it hard for Democrats to want to just up the amount in the fund without a strategy for distribution. Add in the executive branch immediately doing everything they can to undermine congressional and Inspector General oversight over these funds, we will have a repeat of TARP where large corporations were able to find all the bailouts they needed while SMBs were hung out to dry.
• slovette 7y ago
  Wells Fargo didn’t open up the application process for us UNITL THE DAY THE FUND RAN OUT. We had everything prepared thanks to Gusto and submitted. But it may not matter because they had us wait to the point of it no longer being available. We’re laying people off starting Monday. :/
  • AndrewBissell 7y ago
    Wells Fargo is just awful. Mechanics is a local community bank so not for everybody, but we moved our business checking out of Wells Fargo and to them in 2017 and have never looked back.
    • slovette 7y ago
      Yeah, we tried to apply with a local credit union and a local bank right after the announcement. Both said they'd prioritize their internal customers before processing ours and we've heard nothing since from either. While being with a local bank would have helped (especially if we had any debt with them), their behavior doesn't put me in a big rush to give them business either. I've never been naive, but the way America responded to this was with blatant corruption, and it's truly disheartened me. We've shown who we are in a very real way, and I say "we" because we're all complicit and responsible for it.
      • AndrewBissell 7y ago
        The average Joe should not be held complicit for this. I think there is a general understanding what a problem this kind of corruption is but effectively no way for most people to resist it without undertaking extraordinary personal risk or expense. They're also very effectively propagandized into believing one side or the other will fix the problem if we can just get them enough power.
        • slovette 7y ago
          I personally strongly disagree with this. It's my opinion that what people need to do more of is to own responsibility, not avoid it, even if the only realistic capability we have is philosophical. Without the basis of a belief that WE are responsible, we are robbed of its feeling of ownership, and we'll never move toward anything permanently good for any of us. If it's one thing America needs more of, it's to stop scapegoating everything we can point the finger at and get back to working together knowing that it's OURS to fix. *Rant over The rest of your comment I agree with, but we have to start with a different belief system (I think anyway) before we'll ever be any good at the rest.
• shahin841 7y ago
  Thanks...
• jahn716 7y ago
  Submitted EIDL for last week. Not sure what our chances are but have not received any update as of yet.
  • ed 7y ago
    I'm sure you're aware of PPP, but it's the more advantageous program (by far). EIDL grants were reduced to $1k/employee, instead of the flat $10k/company. EIDL interest rates are higher, the grants are smaller, and if you eventually enroll in PPP, you'll have to reconsolidate your EIDL debt with the new bank. Better to ignore the status of your EIDL application and apply for PPP, in the hope the program gets additional funding. (Both EIDL and PPP are out of funds, at the moment.)
    • jahn716 7y ago
      Yea, ended up putting in a submission for PPP at the end of last week. Thanks for the heads up though! Didn't see it till just now...
    • jasonsamoa 7y ago
      We have been hoping for anything. $1k/employee would have been great
• edsimpson 7y ago
  We applied within 15 minutes of our bank, First Republic, opening up applications on April 3rd. Just today we got a notification they were unable to submit it before funds ran out. Horrible experience and terrible customer service.
  • AndrewBissell 7y ago
    Really sorry to hear that, I have a retail checking account with them and would have thought First Republic would have been one of the most on-the-ball.
    • didgeoridoo 7y ago
      We’re FRB customers too. Their excuse was that they weren’t originally set up to be an SBA lender. They were communicative during the inquiry process, but obviously had no idea what was going on.
• DenisM 7y ago
  We applied the opening day with The BoA, got nothing. It’s all very frustrating.
• itake 7y ago
  I just got an email from Chase saying they are out of monies. :[
• sheetjs 7y ago
  Similar story here and with many of our customers. It's been radio silence with larger banks (Chase) and community banks. It's rumored that, just like how BofA prioritized companies with active business loans, other banks are giving money to ensure their loan customers can continue to pay existing loans.
• HeyLaughingBoy 7y ago
  /r/smallbusiness is now pretty much all SMB owners pissed that after doing everything right, their banks are saying there's no money left to disburse. People are sharpening their pitchfork tines...
  • duxup 7y ago
    Effectively free money offered.... who knew they'd run out!?!!?
    • manigandham 7y ago
      The issue is not that the funds ran out but how hard it is to even ask for the money for the small businesses that it was supposed to help.
      • duxup 7y ago
        I think the fact that there simply wasn't enough even for it being hard to ask means there wasn't enough.
  • WilliamEdward 7y ago
    Now just imagine how the workers losing their jobs that don't have savings or loans feel.
    • colecut 7y ago
      Won't this create more of those people?
  • mcphilip 7y ago
    I’ve been wondering if something will act as a catalyst for social unrest, starting on a small scale, and wonder if the PPP could be a tipping point. There have already been reports of LLCs formed just to get free money for the wealthy and well-connected: https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/how-stop-business-loan-program-benefiting-rich-n1185811 https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/how-stop-business-l... I hope the above article is either wrong or misleading, but I do worry a tipping point could be hit that gets people out in the streets in numbers far larger than what was seen in Michigan. I sense a growing distress at how bleak the situation is in places like here in Austin where relatively few deaths have been reported but countless people with livelihoods ruined. Hopefully I’m wrong, but even having started prepping earlier than most for this lockdown, I’m still surprised every day how much worse things are getting than I imagined.
• 20years 7y ago
  We submitted our app through Chase the morning it opened. Days went by before we heard anything and that was an automated email that basically said they received our app. This morning I got an email stating the program is out of money, but they will keep our app on file for if/when more funds are allocated to it.
  • calabin 7y ago
    Same exact experience. All we've received is a loan reference number.
    • hughw 7y ago
      One twist in my case was, the Chase webapp gave me an error page on about page 5 of the wizard interface, where you upload your payroll documentation. The webapp had no state persisted -- any error and you have to start the whole 25-minute process again. I started again at the beginning, but it errored again at the same spot. Behind the error message I could make out the text of what appeared to be the ordinary final page of the form. The the error pane was a translucent overlay over the functioning form. I opened Chrome debugger, identified the element, and set its style to "display: none". Et voila: the glorious final page of the form, where I was able to tick off several attestations and press "Submit". About 10 hours later, I received the "application received" message. You're Chase Bank. You have about 3 days to assemble a webapp that will accept bazillions of hits. You won't have any time to shake it down. Why in the name of Salmon P. Chase do you build a javascript-laden behemoth with a slick wizard interface with page transitions, that has a session timer but no persisted saved state (of any use to the user), using XHR file uploads, the combination of all that hot code bound to fail on any browser but Chrome (it failed to get to page 1 using Firefox)? They could have built a plain old HTML single-page form with a POST action that would upload all the attachments. It could even have had wonderful CSS to support the branding they feel they must have. The whole thing could have run on Apache hosts with a CGI handler. Seriously.
  • jrs235 7y ago
    This is why an independent and trustworthy Inspector General overseeing and reporting back to Congress and the public is needed. Where did this money go and who got it? Were some people favored or tipped off on how to get through the process?
• mauricio 7y ago
  With my wife's business we applied with Bank of America in the morning as soon as applications opened. They were one of the first banks to offer the loan. Like OP, the next day they asked us to fill out their template PDF which asked for the same information we had already provided. We did that ASAP. Didn't hear anything else after that. For my company we went through Chase the same day when it was available. They never asked for any information. We called, they said it was being processed. Still no info. I have a few other friends who own businesses and none have received the loan. The only person I know that received the loan went through a local bank in New Mexico. I think the big banks just prioritized the really large loans > $1M.
  • dboreham 7y ago
    Banks will receive fees based on the loan amount. The fee % does decrease at higher values but given each loan has to be manually processed by a member of the bank staff, it would make sense to process a small number of larger loans in the short time window to maximize fees.
• cpr 7y ago
  Submitted to PNC (here near Pittsburgh) the day it opened, got bounced a few days later with slightly incomplete form filling. I stupidly dragged my feet in re-submitting, given all the steps required. Finally got it re-submitted yesterday, just as they announced the well's run dry. PNC kindly got back to me today (via phone) and had me add one more piece of missing info, in readiness for the next wave of funding (if that happens). Now I wonder if I had responded immediately last week if it might have made it under the wire. I guess who knows?
• vollmarj 7y ago
  Many banks were waiting to process the loans until the guidance settled down. Even the application form changed after the program officially launched. Guidance from the Treasury Department on how to apply and underwrite was a moving target for several days into the program launching. Our bank said they were still doing diligence on all applications upfront before submitting the loans to the SBA even though the bank isn't actually liable for anything. This was causing about a 2 day lag time from starting to process the loan application to submitting it to the SBA. In our case that meant not getting the loan submitted before the funding ran out.
• robhunter 7y ago
  I have two companies. Both have existing checking + lending relationship with BoA. Company #1 is 5 years old, Company #2 is 6 months old. 4/3: Both companies applied 4/6: Both companies submitted all required docs 4/8: Received a call about Company #2 - claimed we could only use 2019 payroll to determine size of loan. Incorrect - new co's can use Jan/Feb. Told the rep this. Was told I would received a callback. 4/9: Received a promissory note for Company #1, signed and submitted. 4/10-4/15: Received numerous automated calls + emails asking me to do things I already had done. 4/16: Received a request to update business info for Company #1. Did so. Rep said I should expect deposit of funds in 1-5 days. Still nothing on Company #2. I am tentative that the $$$ is allocated already as we have been assigned an SBA loan number. BoA did some things right (opened up first), some things arguably right (as someone who has a previous relationship, I appreciate getting prioritized), and some things terribly (having people take time to give reminders on actions that have already been taken, having no one available to answer questions or provide support, etc.)
  • jrs235 7y ago
    As I mentioned elsewhere: This is why an independent and trustworthy Inspector General overseeing and reporting back to Congress and the public is needed. Where did this money go and who got it? Were some people favored or tipped off on how to get through the process?
  • jeffmould 7y ago
    We applied through BoA on the first day as well and never heard a word. All documents are still in Intralinks apparently untouched. Only two things we ever heard from them were the link to upload documents and a call a few days later verifying we were able to upload the documents. Radio silence since then. I did read somewhere though that their system was looking for specific file names in Intralinks and if you did not have those your application fell through the system. After reading that, I went back yesterday and looked at our docs and one the we had renamed the addendum and template files to remove spaces. I also looked at their instructions (probably should have read them more clearly from the beginning) and it does say in there not to rename files and/or to use specific file names. I am now wondering if that was what caused our application with them to fall to the black hole. Luckily we had applied through a local bank and received a SBA number. Waiting on final docs now from them.
• dboreham 7y ago
  The day before applications were to open, I called the guy at a local community bank (we bank with Wells Fargo which at the time just had a web page saying "don't even think about it"). This guy was very helpful which was handy because at the time the official communications were vague and internally inconsistent. Anyway I came away with the distinct impression that it had already been decided who was to receive these loans.
• mgkimsal 7y ago
  My bank called me and asked if I knew about the PPP and wanted to apply. My bank never calls me for anything. I was actually skeptical it was my bank at all, but some verification afterwards checked out that it was legit (but was still weird). I said "No, I'm doing OK". He said "that's good - have a nice day". No idea why they were doing PPP outreach - I'd have figured it would all be earmarked or gone in a couple of days anyway - there's no need to try to 'drum up' business.
  • danieltillett 7y ago
    Do you have a large loan with your bank?
    • mgkimsal 7y ago
      nope. small biz checking, that's it.
• ungzd 7y ago
  At first I thought it's about loans for dialup internet which uses PPP.
• latortuga 7y ago
  11 employees, monthly payroll under 100k we applied the moment the program was opened by our bank (April 3rd). We knew the funds would go fast so we put our all into getting our application info in as soon as possible. I suppose it must have helped because we closed this week - got final paperwork on the 15th and funds yesterday (the 16th).
• mNovak 7y ago
  We submitted through PNC. Their online portal didn't work the first few days, so we finally got it in Apr 8. Never any updates, not even a confirmation email. Checking the status today, looks like they never got through processing and submitting to SBA. So looks like we missed the boat.
• snowwrestler 7y ago
  Keep applying. Don't give up. If you have an application in process, keep it going. If your bank is still taking applications, file one. Most members of Congress agree that the CARES Act small business programs should get more funding. But they are dragging their feet on a bill because of other topics and ideas that could get attached to it. The more un-fulfilled applications there are waiting for funds, the more heat that banks and trade associations can put on Congress to move fast. It demonstrates the dire need. And if more funds are allocated, banks will likely start disbursing them first to applications that are already in the queue. You should absolutely be contacting your House representative and Senators about this. Call their office, tweet @ them, send them emails. Tell them to pass a bill on Monday to fix this. https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representati... https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_...
• sauwan 7y ago
  So is the answer: Applied with a big bank, get nothing. Applied with a small bank, got lucky if you applied early on April 3rd ? Edit: we applied with a small bank at 6am on the 3rd and got funds earlier this week.
• duxup 7y ago
  Company I work for the president of the company said he applied the first day and since have been approved.
• matt1988 7y ago
  We also bank with Mechanics. Submitted our application on Sunday the 5th. Called many times and they kept saying they can't give us status. Was patient most of the time with them but I wish we were not. The story is too long but I can tell you that they were not processing applications first come first serve. Finally got someone to look at our application and now its in underwriting. Hoping congress passes phase 2. We will be moving from Mechanics. 45+ people on payroll didn't let anyone go in anticipation of us getting the funds. Did everything I could to give them all the information they needed within minutes of them asking. I was always fist in line.
• whatok 7y ago
  Some stats on the program so far: https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/PPP%20Deck%20copy.pdf https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/PPP%20Deck%2...
• dusing 7y ago
  We bank with Wells Fargo, who was of no help until after the PPP ran out. So we applied with 6 different banks, all small around the country. that didn't work. Found and applied to a very small bank in rural MN (where we are) and got a person on the phone finally. Submitted to SBA after 7 days, and then got a SBA loan number and approval on 4/14 (just before it ran out). Now they said I won't be able to close on the loan and get the money until 4/24. I don't even know what the takeaway is at this point.
  • dba7dba 7y ago
    >> Now they said I won't be able to close on the loan and get the money until 4/24. Is they WellsFargo? WellsFargo said they won't be able to close the loan until 4/24?
    • dusing 7y ago
      No we got approved through the small bank. Wells Fargo has been uninvolved.
  • xxpor 7y ago
    I have to ask, why does anyone use wells fargo any more?
    • acwan93 7y ago
      Apparently for us we take ACH payments from our customers and disburse payroll through our WF account we’ve had for over two decades. When I asked why continue banking with them after the scandal: “we did have fraudulent accounts opened but nothing was charged, so that wasn’t a big deal” Hopefully the lack of response from PPP from WF will finally convince my company to switch banks.
• wdaher 7y ago
  Yes, what you're describing is incredibly common. What we're hearing is that small community banks were most successful at actually getting this money into the hands of businesses, whereas the large banks were fairly slow. (And many startup-specific banks were just completely unprepared for it.) My advice is: continue to work with your lender to get your application squared away so that it's fully ready to be submitted to the SBA as soon as additional funds are allocated (since I can't imagine that those will last long either.) (In the interest of full disclosure, I'm Pilot's CEO. We don't do anything with PPP loans directly but it's an area of significant interest to our customer base, so we've been following it closely and have been pretty regularly releasing updates like this one from yesterday: https://pilot.com/blog/the-ppp-has-run-out-of-money-now-what/ https://pilot.com/blog/the-ppp-has-run-out-of-money-now-what...)
• curo 7y ago
  Silicon Valley Bank vs my local bank: SVB: - SVB loses a big check of ours for a week prior to PPP - SVB takes 1 week to get their newly developed PPP portal active - SVB prioritizes new clients and bigger accounts (allegedly, see Twitter screenshots) - Delays and bugs once it's live Local Bank: - Local bank tracks and finds lost check, makes except to deposit - Local bank puts out a low-tech, but reliable DocuSign PPP form the day after announcement (and 6 days before SVB's portal taking PPP apps) - Local bank prioritizes existing clients - No bugs, you can connect with them in <10 mins to talk to a rep
  • zamalek 7y ago
    Local credit union: funds appear in the account the next day.
  • manigandham 7y ago
    Silicon Valley Bank is the worst bank I've ever used and we deeply regret ever choosing them. The archaic tech, few physical branches, limited hours, expensive services, and little unique offering other than venture debt makes it a poor choice for the majority of startups. There is nothing "Silicon Valley" about SVB other than their staff salaries being the highest of any public bank.
    • snazz 7y ago
      I wonder why Stripe Atlas chose to partner with them for the banking part of their service. It doesn't seem like SVB aligns with Stripe's ethos.
      • manigandham 7y ago
        Probably because of the same unfounded hype that other startups choose them for, but Stripe Atlas now offers better alternatives with Azlo [1] and Mercury [2], although you can still choose SVB if you want: https://stripe.com/docs/atlas/next#bank-account https://stripe.com/docs/atlas/next#bank-account 1. https://www.azlo.com/ https://www.azlo.com/ 2. https://mercury.com/ https://mercury.com/
• nono88 7y ago
  Here in the western USA, I recall distinctly that washington mutual (before death) changed the order of check clearing in my account, to create an overdraft and charge fees on multiple checks .. just before Christmas 2007 iir.. other info in YNews about the PPP suggests that companies with current financing open (product-less dot-com) got money, while others (on main street) wait in queues ..
  • FireBeyond 7y ago
    Absolutely. I deposited a check at an ATM in the evening. The next morning, I made the usual transactions, Starbucks, grocery store, fuel, a few others during the day. Despite everything looking fine in online banking I got slapped with $315 in overdraft fees for "9 overdraft transactions" that next day. F WaMu.
• aazaa 7y ago
  On face value, this seems like a no-lose proposition. Loan forgiveness, minus 1% interest, so basically free money. What are the downsides, theoretical or otherwise, of taking this money?
  • AndrewBissell 7y ago
    To apply you have to make certain representations that you need the money as a result of COVID-related disruptions and will use it only for certain purposes, and one is at least theoretically criminally liable for filing a false statement if that's not the case. Also, you only get the loan balance forgiven if it goes to payroll (must be at least 75% of the total), rents, and utilities.
  • adventured 7y ago
    There are very few downsides. You just have to make sure you follow the program guidelines. For example 75% has to go to payroll, only 25% can go to other expenditures such as rent or debt interest. People are understandably worried about the money having already been exhausted for the program. This isn't going to be the last round they do, for either individuals or small businesses.
  • cinquemb 7y ago
    Systemic moral hazard, zombie companies enabled to continue to engage in more over capacity at a time when demand is falling off the cliff side, etc. C17H19NO3 for those who don't know they're in the hospice yet. Things most of my fellow americans dont give a shit about though lol Oh well, don't live stateside so meh.
• rstupek 7y ago
  Applied through WellsFargo and haven't heard anything yet. Did get what might have been spam from a financial company using Kabbage to handle the paperwork. Considered trying that route as well but had read "only one application allowed". That plus the possibility it was a scam kept me from doing that.
• humaniania 7y ago
  Has the SBA disclosed the extent of the data breach that they had?
  • edoceo 7y ago
    Link?
    • humaniania 7y ago
      https://www.cbsnews.com/news/business-owners-say-their-personal-data-is-being-leaked-on-federal-loan-site/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/business-owners-say-their-perso...
• deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
• chrisco255 7y ago
  Have you tried calling the Federal Reserve directly? Oh wait, that only works for Hedge Fund managers.
• edoceo 7y ago
  Wells Fargo. I was early in their application process (just a simple 5q web form) like 10+ days ago. 3 days ago I submitted full application. All I've gotten are daily emails that report they are still processing the queue.
• squeaky-clean 7y ago
  Just an employee, not an owner so I don't know the actual details of it, all I know is that my company successfully got it (or is confirmed to get it?). Next week accounting will be laying out the details of it for all the other employees. I don't really know anything more than we received confirmation on Wednesday and the people in accounting say it's good news for us. We're a software firm that does contract work for airlines, so that may have also helped out?
• Anechoic 7y ago
  I run a small engineering consulting firm (traditional engineering, not CS/programming) based in Massachusetts, with 13 employees spread across 5 states. Most of our work comes from consulting for state and Federal agencies on large transportation and industrial projects, with lots of small stuff sprinkled in. We do our banking with a mid-sized east coast regional bank, and we have an account representative assigned to us. When we first heard whispers about the program, we reached out to our banker who responded that they had heard the same whispers but didn't have anything concrete to tell us. The bank suggested that we start gathering financial paperwork (as government contractors we tend to need those statements to respond to audits, so this was easy for us.) During the first week of April, our bank sent us the preliminary application form, told us to look it over and make sure we have everything we need. A week later the program officially opened, but since SBA hadn't offered specific guidance, the bank wasn't accepting applications yet. On the morning of April 6, our bank opened the "official" portal to take applications. We immediately jumped into it, only to find the portal had a couple of show-stopping bugs and some of the instructions were ambiguous. Our frazzled representative told us that the bugs were being worked on and to keep trying. We did, and we were able so successfully submit out application later that afternoon. While on a walk on Easter Sunday, we got an unofficial email from our banker that the application had been approved, which was followed up by a more official email yesterday. No word yet on when the money will actually hit our bank account. I presume that our relationship with our bank helped things go smoothly. While we weren't 100% sure that we submitted the right documents for everything, the bank has most of our financial info through other dealings so they may have been able to check all the right boxes.
  • chrischen 7y ago
    > I presume that our relationship with our bank helped things go smoothly. Hah most banks I saw explicitly told people not to email about PPP loans, never mind unofficial courtesy status updates!
    • GarrisonPrime 7y ago
      Apparently instructions are for the common plebes. :-P
• chrisseaton 7y ago
  > My wife and I run a small winery Where can I buy a case?
  • AndrewBissell 7y ago
    Where do you live? :-) We unfortunately had spun down our DTC sales not long before this damn thing hit, but if you're in one of our markets (Bay Area, LA, Seattle, Portland, Montreal, Chicago, NYC, ME, MA, or NC) then you can probably find our stuff in the right local shop. Inconnu, Lalalu, Kitsune, and Papa JaJa are our brands. We're looking into ways to get DTC back up and running now though, looks like lots of beverage sales have switched to that channel.
    • chrisseaton 7y ago
      Ah sorry I'm over in the UK and I can't see an importer. Now's a great time for DTC though. I've been buying wine to be delivered and I don't usually do that, and actually it's encouraging me to be more adventurous in my choice, so there's an opportunity here.
      • AndrewBissell 7y ago
        I forgot, we're actually in the UK too! 266 Wines imports our stuff but I don't know if they sell to any wine shops or just restaurants. We'll probably never be able to do DTC to the UK though :-(
        • chrisseaton 7y ago
          Thanks yes they're selling direct to consumer now due to the emergency.
• tardo99 7y ago
  I've been told by some well-placed people (pooh pooh me if you want, I don't care), that a number of PE shops and hedge funds were able to get some pretty big loans to the top of the pile. Many, many, many businesses are in your situation. A very large percentage of the money went places you and I probably wouldn't think it "should" go. The program isn't working.
  • FireBeyond 7y ago
    I know of two egregious examples: 1) a private university near me with multiple thousand students, and nearly 1,000 employees (faculty and the like) "tweaking" their payroll numbers to exclude adjuncts, TAs, student employees and such, so they could claim they were a "small business" 2) a startup who closed a $25M round of funding in March, has no product/revenue as yet, and works 100% remote, talks of having a 14 month runway, got a fairly large check "because they're offering money, we should take it" (regardless of need)
    • searchableguy 7y ago
      Aren't both of those illegal or breaking the agreement? Wouldn't it be better to report them?
• jedberg 7y ago
  My business account is with Chase. Applied on the first day they opened their portal, which was a few days after the program started. Got an error on the second page of the app when I told them I am C Corp, was told the portal wasn't ready for C Corps yet. Got an email the next day to try again, and did so and it worked. Got a promissory note automatically at the end of the application which just needed a few bits of info and my payroll worksheet from Gusto. Was informed this morning that the program was out of money and they would let me know if/when the program had more money to fund the loan. Oh and through the entire process Chase has stressed that my local banker has no information, no access to the system, and no way to help me, so not even bother trying to talk to them.
  • treyfitty 7y ago
    Chase has been horrible all around for the past weeks for even basic business banking. Many links that don’t work, customer service numbers that are incorrect, policies & procedures stated that are incorrect, and escalation processes that add further delays to getting time sensitive decisions like PPP. I’ve had to spend countless hours for things that took me minutes to do with AmEx + local credit union.
  • tracker1 7y ago
    Yeah, I still have a chase account, but mostly use them for smaller day to day things (also CC). Most of my paycheck and pretty much all my bills go to a local credit union account. Not to mention, when I went to chase, they had ATMs all over, now not so much.
• zarkov99 7y ago
  Wells Fargo. Did not accept applications until a week in. Ran out of money after 10 Billion since they were still under an asset cap because of their past frauds. To this day I have no idea if I will be approved or not. 0/10 would not recommend.
• ianmcgowan 7y ago
  I'm a sole prop, and followed almost exactly this timeline, along with resubmitting the same information. Bank of America for me, but they're using an external service to manage the process https://services.intralinks.com/ https://services.intralinks.com/, it seems strange it can't be managed thru their own online banking. Haven't heard anything, not expecting anything, it's pretty discouraging...
  • dumbfoundded 7y ago
    I use Bank of America too and so far crickets.
• lquist 7y ago
  Chase Bank client. Received a text from our relationshiop manager 1:20pm PST to apply on Portal. Submitted prelim application 10 mins later. Received loan approval Midnight of April 15. Funds in the bank account April 17.
• jyfzbj 7y ago
  (Throwaway account, YMMV) We applied on 4/8 and received our PPP on 4/15. We have almost 40 employees and bank with Chase and Wells but we realized early on that the big money-center banks were a couple of steps behind are were going to be overwhelmed. We started by looking at the full list of PPP banks and identifying the most tech-savvy of the bunch https://heavy.com/news/2020/04/apply-payroll-protection-program-sba-covid-19/ https://heavy.com/news/2020/04/apply-payroll-protection-prog... Eventually after applying with a few we got furthest with by applying via Kabbage and SmartBizLoans. Our company had an existing relationship w/these lenders and they seem to be the most tech-conscious of the bunch. Our application via SmartBizLoans was approved on 4/13 and the funds deposited on 4/15. SmartBizLoans acts as a broker to a number of smaller banks which might explain why they were quicker. AMA, glad to help.
• achenatx 7y ago
  Most big banks completely screwed their clients. You can read reddit/r/smallbusiness 1) The SBA was approving PPP submissions in like an hour (rubberstamping). 2) Any delay was 100% your bank. Many banks just didnt get to applications but didnt notify people. Some banks said people were approved (by the bank) but didnt submit those people to the SBA 3) There was a lot of time to submit to intermediaries like paypal. Paypal was turning applications around in 24 hours to funding. There were people that applied on 4/3 with a big bank that didnt get it and people that applied thursday night through paypal that got it 4) Big banks often added additional criteria which made it harder to complete the application. Some big banks were not using the correct calculations 5) Once you have an SBA loan number you are good and money is allocated. Banks have 10 days to disburse the funds 6) The SBA ran out of allocated funds, not all the money has been disbursed. 7) People submitted to multiple lenders and it was fine Overall I think the program went pretty well and there was plenty of time for people to get applications in. There was obviously working of the system (hedge funds, large restaurant chains, etc) but if you look at the distribution of funds there were still many many small loans. 750K under $150K with an average of $51K I spent the last 2 weeks doing nothing but reading reports, stats etc about the program to ensure I was able to get it for my team. Lots of people submitted with a big bank and just waited accepting no updates, now are complaining after it is over.
  • listenallyall 7y ago
    750,000 loans of $150,000 would use about $112 billion in funds -- less than 1/3rd of the allocated amount. But if, as you stated, the average loan was only $51,000, then these smaller loans comprised a much smaller piece of the total. The way the statistics are presented is purposefully designed to obfuscate the fact that the vast majority of funds went to large businesses while small ones were very often shut out.
    • mbreese 7y ago
      This is definitely one instance where you care less about the average and more about the median (and quartile).
• henrikschroder 7y ago
  Sole proprietor here, crickets from my bank as well except some initial emails redirecting me to their PPP website signup. The general sentiment in this thread seems to be that large banks absolutely suck for a bunch of reasons. What would happen if I apply for the same loan through some other smaller local bank or credit union? As long as I only accept the loan through one place, it should be fine, right?
• abalashov 7y ago
  It's not.
• henrikberggren 7y ago
  Approved!
• nhorob67 7y ago
  Process was very smooth with our local bank in North Dakota. Was funded yesterday.
• dnprock 7y ago
  Thanks for sharing. Here's my experience. I went through a similar process with Bank of America. I submitted my application on Friday when it opened. Then documents. A few days later, I got a call from a Bank of America representative. He asked if I had any issues. The rep tried to verify our business information. I spent some time trying to verify that he's not a scammer. I'm from Washington. He's in Colorado. He told me he's a mortgage banker. :) He's polite, but he has no idea about my application status. He just got assigned to reach out. I told him I uploaded the docs after lots of confusion. But I think I got it. The rep told me that I can't call him for information on the application. :) On April 15, I received an email asking for business information. The email said, login, click "I'm ready" and fill out the required information. I tried to verify that it's a legit email. I avoid clicking on the link. :) I have no idea what the required information is. I logged into my business account, but not prompted "I'm ready" button. I spent 30 minutes looking around for the button. :) I found that I need to update my account information and promptly did. On April 16, I saw the news that PPP is out of money. I'm worried. I log in to my business account again. This time, I got prompted the "I'm ready" button. I filled out the required information about our business. I haven't seen anything after that. There're a lot of people that I can get mad at, the virus, the rep, the bank, the state, the government, China. At this point, I don't think those things matter. Stay safe.
• dhruvkar 7y ago
  We deal with a smaller, local bank (just has one branch) and submitted the application through them exactly one week ago. We were able to get the loan amount in our account earlier this week. We're ~30 employees (~$7M annual revenue) located in the Midwest. I wasn't directly involved with the application, however. Sorry to hear of the troubles you're going through, these are not easy times.
• apinstein 7y ago
  I figured corporate red tape would be the hardest problem and that the program would be over-subscribed. So I "signed up" at Chase and 2 local banks recommended by my accountant and let the best one win... Sure enough, the local bank (Quantum National Bank) in GA, got back to me with an application to fill out before Chase even had a "form" to register interest in the program. They had a plan, and their banker was responsive via phone and email. It was pleasantly not a bad process at all. We signed our closing papers today.
• tracker1 7y ago
  Louis Rossmann covered this recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP4rodsK41E&t=648s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP4rodsK41E&t=648s
  • amerine 7y ago
    Who is this and why should we care?
    • icelancer 7y ago
      Appeal to authority, much? The content can't stand on its own?
    • chaosbutters314 7y ago
      A small business owner in NYC that has a huge youtube following
    • tracker1 7y ago
      Your comment could literally apply to any content, created by anyone. The person in question has a relatively large YouTube following, his small business provides services for computing, phone and laptop devices including general recovery and board repair. He's also acted as an independent advocate for right to repair legislation at his own expense. He was specifically affected by the PPP process and the fact that the larger banks prioritized their larger leveraged customers rather than the small businesses the legislation was really meant to help.
• balls187 7y ago
  1099. Applications weren't open until April 10th for us. My local credit union is not SBA. I applied through a few online brokers; got word a few days ago my application was approved and sent to the underwriter. Later that day it was announced all the funding was dry.
• hedora 7y ago
  All the horror stories in this thread make me wonder why these banks were allowed to be (profiting) middlemen in this lending program at all.
• ta1679389 7y ago
  Throwaway, because I work for a bank doing PPP. First off, I want to say I feel for anyone struggling - I know from my exposure a lot of loans didn't get in. We had random people from all over the bank working nights and weekends trying to get these loans into the SBA. The news didn't do justice how much of a disaster this program was with the SBA. For example during training, the SBA app crashed 11 times while trying to enter one application - and this was after hours. We spent days on the phone trying to get someone to get us access to the SBA's API - no one could help us. In the end, a lot of loans didn't end up getting into the system. Second off, we're already tooling up for the second round of SBA to get more loans through the system by eliminating a lot of manual processing. So have some hope and contact your reps and senators - we're already getting ready to get loans through once they open up the program again.
  • ta1587192583 7y ago
    Also a throwaway for the same reason. We are facing the same issues here. We are struggling to even get SBA logins created to add additional manpower to the manual process. I'm curious how paypal was able to push these loans through so quick, I'm assuming they have some API access that is difficult to obtain. We are also trying to implement some automation for the second round. If you are able to share are you building that or implementing a 3rd party product? We are looking at a few 3rd party apps and have a few hopeful candidates that look like they will help.
• hv23 7y ago
  Not the answer to OP's question so apologies—but does anyone have insight on how PPP funds were actually distributed to banks across the nation? i.e. were banks given specific allotments of the total capital pool that they could distribute to their clients... or was there a general SBA FIFO queue that each bank simply had to submit their clients' applications to once they processed them internally?
• tempsy 7y ago
  It’s out of money as of today
• imroot 7y ago
  I helped my mom do her PPP paperwork. She submitted on the first day that US Bank allowed applications. She then spent the next 4 days going back and Forth with US Bank over her paperwork. She had a loan approval from US Bank, and then...nothing. ...until Wednesday, when she got an email saying that the funding had ran out. My mom plans on keeping her staff employed while they work from home for as long as she can, but, she had enough money to run payroll on the 15th, and will probably not have enough money to run payroll at the end of the month -- hospitals have stopped having elective surgeries, and many of them are 60+ days behind on their bills right now. I know that the banks were hammered with applications and there are a lot of people who are in the same situation as her. I'm hoping that when they add funding to the program, that businesses like hers (who were approved provisionally, but ran out of money) would be processed first.
• e15ctr0n 7y ago
  JPMorgan Chase was able to secure multi-million dollar loans under the PPP for some of its clients that happen to be large chains and foreign corporations: * Wave Life Sciences, a biotech company incorporated in Singapore, got $7.2 million for the 97% of the company’s work force based in the United States. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1631574/000119312520107212/d915389d8k.htm https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1631574/000119312520... * Potbelly Sandwich Shop, a chain of 400 restaurants, got $10 million for its 6,000 employees. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1195734/000119312520105245/d914203d8k.htm https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1195734/000119312520... * Texas Taco Cabana, a chain of 121 Mexican food restaurants, got $10 million https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1534992/000153499220000027/a8-k041420.htm https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1534992/000153499220... * Ruth’s Hospitality Group, a Florida-based steakhouse operator, got $20 million for its 5,700 employees. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1324272/000156459020016452/ruth-8k_20200407.htm https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1324272/000156459020...
  • hkmurakami 7y ago
    Are the latter two franchises?
    • kortilla 7y ago
      Not with 5700 employees. I heard on an interview that restaurant chains got an exemption as long as they had small employee counts at their locations.
      • hkmurakami 7y ago
        =\ I could see if they’re a national franchise, but if they’re centrally owned and operated, then the p&l would roll up to the mothership. This really doesn’t make much sense and they should have had to Apply to the larger company bracket... sigh
• deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
• kart23 7y ago
  There is so much going wrong right now. The result of a sudden influx of money obviously will come with issues, but I feel that a lot of the money is going to big companies with cash in the banks, and not enough to smaller ones. In a similar vein, my university recently received 38 million dollars through the cares act, half of which is required to be distributed directly to students. The administration has not said a word about that money, but has confirmed we still need to pay fees for services that we cannot use anymore, like the shuttles or the gym. I never really thought about corruption in the United States before this.
  • jefflombardjr 7y ago
    Bullshit Jobs describes this type of corruption pretty darn well imo. Whenever there is a big pile of money it entire industries pop up on how to get that money in the form of fees. It's a similar phenomenon to class action lawsuits and how if you're a plaintiff you're lucky if you get a $10 check in the mail two years later.
  • AndrewBissell 7y ago
    Global measurements of "corruption" will often put the United States very far down the list because there is relatively little outright illegal bribery and horse trading. Instead, all our corruption is done legally and with the government's full blessing.
• manigandham 7y ago
  Some notes: 1) If the SBA received your application then you should see a inquiry on your credit report. CreditKarma is a good free choice to check your report. 2) Chase and other big banks added additional language to their loan contracts that allows them to sue for defaults. Read the terms carefully before signing.
• JamalW 7y ago
  Moral of the story: Rely less on government assistance and vote for less taxes and regulations.
• ridgeguy 7y ago
  My personal bank, First Republic, accepted my application even though I run my business as self-employed and they normally require a "real" business account. Got the app in on April 8, crickets since.
  • killbigbanks 7y ago
    How long have you been doing business with first Republic Bank?
    • ridgeguy 7y ago
      about 15 years, just the one account. And I'm sure my account isn't much more than a roundoff error compared with most of their business.
  • killbigbanks 7y ago
    How long have you been a customer?
• throw_m239339 7y ago
  Not in US, but one of my friend who owns a US small business did attempt to apply in order to save his company, no dice. Let's just say this thing is one of the biggest scandal in the history of modern USA. Clearly some banks did favour some "small businesses" over others by restricting application dates.
  • pinkfoot 7y ago
    A bigger scandal is why in almost all countries the financial industry uniquely requires one to go through private companies to access government resources. Its as weird as if their were no government run schools.
  • lazyjones 7y ago
    > his thing is one of the biggest scandal in the history of modern USA. Clearly some banks did favour some "small businesses" over others by restricting application dates. Regretful, but now imagine what is going on here in Europe where these loans and funds are government-issued and plenty of them go lost in the ways of systemic corruption, tax-payed funded.
• orf 7y ago
  Why on earth did anyone think that it would be good, or efficient, to go through a multitude of private companies in order to access public resources? And why on earth do you still use cheques?
• jeremyspurz 7y ago
  i have been trying to acquire a loan to start up my business, but nothing work out for me not until i was surfing the internet and i saw someone testifying about how she got a loan from chevyloan, so i copied the website link ( www.chevyloan.org ) so i contacted them and applied for a loan of $25,000 which was approved and granted, and now i have start up business and everything is going smoothly. if you wish to get a loan kindly visit http://chevyloan.org/ http://chevyloan.org/ and apply.
• rasz 7y ago
  No pre-existing substantial obligations to the bank? no loan.
• BryanBigs 7y ago
  I went with USBank. Small loan, under 50k. I'm a C Corp, one employee. They had issues (system wasn't up the first day was what I was told) but was approved on Wednesday, received money Thursday. I'm amazed it went as well as it did. Government bureaucracy isn't designed to try new things or deal with bumps in the road as they appear.
• sakoht 7y ago
  The SBA has set the interest rate on the loans to a very low level. Low interest on a house isn't bad b/c it can go 15-30 years and has closing costs. A low interest rate short term loan probably doesn't cover the legwork for the banks to manage it. So they really don't want to. And even though the govt is securing them, it is even more paperwork when a bunch of companies default and need to be processed.
• e15ctr0n 7y ago
  SBA has issued a report on PPP loan approvals through 4/16: https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/PPP%20Deck%20copy.pdf https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/PPP%20Deck%2... The highlights of the report: * 1.6 million loans worth $342 billion approved through 4,975 lenders * California, Texas and New York accounted for 23% of the loans, more than $82 billion. (see Reuters graphic: https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/editorcharts/qmypmrzyvra/index.html https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/editorcharts/qmypmrzyv...) * Number of loans approved per 1,000 small businesses was the highest for rural states (see Reuters graphic: https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/editorcharts/xlbpgxaovqd/index.html https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/editorcharts/xlbpgxaov...) * A breakdown of loans per industry shows that construction and manufacturing firms were awarded loan amounts disproportionately higher than the share of employees in that sector. (See Reuters graphic: https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/editorcharts/qzjvqlbopxm/index.html https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/editorcharts/qzjvqlbop...) * The top lender processed $14 billion in loans across 27,307 businesses, with $515,304 average loan amount. * The lender with the most number of loans processed $2.9 billion to 40,746 businesses with $72,803 average loan amount. More analysis here: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-lending-analys/main-street-bailout-rewards-us-restaurant-chains-firms-in-rural-states-idUSKBN21Z3FL https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-le...
• reddit121853 7y ago
  When they said first come first serve on Thursday 4/2 with the opening on Friday 4/3, we spent most of the day getting our paperwork done for the submission on that Thursday. Including copies of a whole year of payroll and all the other backup material. We had our paperwork in to Texas Bank and Trust that Friday morning. They worked on the SBA side and sent an email to us on Saturday that the SBA had changed the terms from .5% to 1% interest rate with some other changes about contractors and such and updated the signoff sheet. On early Monday we signed the loan agreement with those changes and by 4:30 p.m. they said we had been approved by the SBA. Then on Thursday 4/9 the money showed up in our bank account. I want to publicly acknowledge the outstanding work the Texas Bank and Trust team performed to get our relief money. For 2 weeks we sent everyone home fully paid. We are slowly ramping up but everyone is being paid their full salaries / 40 hours for the whole time they are at home self quarantining. This is how the program was supposed to work.