April 10th, 2020
Coronavirus economic stimulus programs have been changing on a daily basis and in some instances hourly. Tom Daly, the local SBDC Director, has reported that his office is buried in applications. For most programs the process is manual and therefore very laborious for SBDC staff across the country.
Below is a first hand account from our Finance Department’s experience.
EIDL (Economic Injury Disaster Loan) was introduced for a low interest loan to provide small business up to $2,000,000 in assistance. We started the process for this program as soon as the declaration from the Governor was made on 3-20-2020. The application process required a lot of information and the website continuously crashed making it unable to upload the required documents. We compiled all documentation requested and sent it overnight to U.S. Small Business Administration Processing & Disbursement Center on 3-21-2020.
The EIDL Advance funds for $10,000 was available to apply on 3-31-2020. We submitted our application on 3-31-2020.
The Small Business Emergency Bridge Loan Application became available on 3-18-2020 for assistance due to an economic Injury (loss of sales or revenues). This Bridge Loan offers interest free for the 1st term of loan for $50,000. The required documentation requested was much less and easier to apply for than the EIDL program. We submitted our application on 3-20-2020.
The PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) is another loan that is a part of the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief & Economic Security Act. This program authorizes assistance for two year loans that can also be requested to be forgivable to small businesses to cover payroll costs, rent & utilities. This was available to apply on 4-3-2020. This application has also changed many times since it became available as well as many banks/lenders are not setup to process them. In addition to the above mentioned programs, we have also applied for the PPP funding.
If you have any questions or need any guidance please contact our office and ask for Angie Masini, our VP of Operations. She will do her best to help guide you through the process.
|
|