How the PPP Loan has failed entrepreneurs

The PPP loan is a great and necessary program, but the way it has been rolled out has been a chaotic mess. Here’s my story.

On April 3 applications for the SBA PPP loan opened. I tried to apply to my bank, Wells Fargo. They did not have applications open.

I instead applied on April 3 at First Home Bank which was accepting applications from non-customers. I heard nothing back for 5 days. I called several times and each time was told that a loan office would call me in “the next days.” No call ever came. 5 days after apply I got an automated email telling me I was in the queue and there was no need to follow up with calls.

On April 9, Wells Fargo reopened applications. I went to apply and found just a form to indicate my interest. I was told I would be notified when I could apply. The note also said not to call and contact the bank.

On April 13, I heard back from First Home Bank that the application had changed and that I needed to reapply and that I would be put in a priority processing queue. I did, and heard nothing back.

I kept reading in the news about how funds were rapidly depleting. I began to worry.

On April 14 I read that PayPal had received approval to process PPP loans, so I applied there, too.

The next day, April 15, I was informed by an entrepreneur friend that the PPP funding was almost gone, and his community bank, Solera National Bank, was accepting applications with a promised 24 hour turn around. I applied there, too.

If you are counting, that is 4 applications submitted, the earliest being on the very day the program opened. And NOT. ONE. SINGLE. ONE. was processed and sent to the SBA.

Today, the money has run out (of note, of the 4 institutions I applied out, only PayPal has sent a courtesy notification of this). And hundreds of thousands of business like mine are left out in the cold. Not because we don’t need the money, or because we didn’t apply soon enough, but simply because of the chaotic way that applications were implemented and the slow processing times at bank.

I call on Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to work with Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R-Ky.), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to replenish the funds. I also call on banks to TO DO BETTER and send these applications to the SBA in a timely manner. (Especially you, Wells Fargo, where I have been a customer since I was 14 years old!)

P.S. I also applied for the EIDL loan and emergency grant on April 3 and have heard nothing back. I also applied for the NYC Employee Retention Grant and Continuity Loan Fund and have heard nothing back. I am not eligible to apply in my home state, NJ, because they made “remote-first” companies like mine ineligible for those programs.