The second round of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) may be seen as a lifeline to small businesses struggling during the pandemic, but getting approved for a PPP loan has been more difficult this time around. The Small Business Administration (SBA) has been doing more due diligence of applications to reduce fraud, resulting in a higher rejection rate when documentation is incomplete or data matches cannot be made. According to an article in the Boston Globe, the rejection rate has been as high as 25 percent.
The roadblock should ease after the SBA announced changes in the approval process designed to reduce delays. The SBA will now allow lenders to directly certify the eligibility of borrowers for first- and second-draw loans and would not require lenders to submit supporting documentation of borrowers with validation errors until they apply for loan forgiveness.
Still, a PPP loan can offer a significant assistance for an eligible small business. Of the $284 billion available in the second round of PPP, the SBA has approved almost 1.3 million loans totaling $101 billion through February 7. Applications will be accepted through March 31, 2021.
If you are interested in applying for a PPP loan, or if you have received a PPP loan and need assistance in managing the documentation process, we can help. Please contact Gray, Gray & Gray at (781) 407-0300.
For more information on the second round of PPP loans, you can also access the recording of Gray, Gray & Gray’s recent webinar here.