Maine lenders ready to begin new round of PPP loans, starting Friday
Small lenders in Maine and throughout the U.S. on Friday will be able to begin writing a new round of loans through the Paycheck Protection Program, and lenders of every size can start Tuesday.
The U.S. Small Business Administration will reopen the PPP loan portal to eligible institutions with $1 billion or less in assets at 9 a.m. Jan. 15, according to a news release Thursday. The portal will fully open on Jan. 19 for all PPP lenders to submit First and Second Draw loan applications to the SBA.
The new loans will provide up to $284 billion toward job retention and certain other expenses through March 31, the SBA said Tuesday. First Draw loans are for small businesses that did not participate in the first round of lending last summer, and Second Draw funds are for eligible borrowers that also received previous funds.
To be eligible, companies must also employ 300 or fewer people and have had a 25% reduction in gross receipts.
Businesses and lenders had been widely anticipating the start of the renewed emergency relief program, part of the $900 billion aid package signed into law last month. Earlier this week, the federal government opened PPP access to community development financial institutions and a few small categories of lenders.
But as recently as Wednesday, it wasn’t clear when the application process would start for everyone else. Meanwhile, anticipating high demand for the financial assistance, the lenders have been gearing up and are now eager to begin the new round.
“From the moment we opened applications yesterday, we have had a constant and steady flow of both new and existing PPP borrowers submitting applications and reaching out to us for guidance,” Isla Dickerson, a senior vice president at Bangor Savings Bank, told Mainebiz.
“We are seeing applications that are greater than first round applications submitted during the same timeframe, which indicates that there is strong demand and high need for this round of PPP.”
At Machias Savings Bank, Vice President Charlene Cates said PPP loan processing will begin there at 8 a.m. Tuesday.
“We are busy building application forms and getting website and email resources ready for all groups. We are waiting for the SBA to open the funnel … We have gotten over half of our first time applicants through forgiveness already, so that is a great start. We are ready and able to serve businesses and we won’t turn our backs on them now.”
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