Dear Business Owners,
The next phase of the CAREs Act loan program kicks off this morning at 9:30 a.m. J.P. Morgan Chase told the
Sun-Times that it were ready to submit 150,000 loans to the SBA, with 100,000 more waiting in the wings.
With the additional funding provided by the new COVID-19 relief package, SBA will also resume processing Economic Injury Disaster Loan and Advance applications that are already in the queue on a first come, first-served basis. Another round of applications for EIDL loans may open if funding is available.
The SBA advises that if you have a completed application at your lender, you should check with your lender to see where in the queue you are.
Smaller, less, connected business seemed to have lost out in the first round of funding, at least in Chicago, where almost every bank imposed a requirement that the applicant have a pre-existing relationship with the bank to qualify for a loan.
Congress attempted to remedy this situation in this round, by limiting the amount that any bank can lend, and also to make the loans available at many more lenders, including credit unions,
Community Development Financial Institutions; minority depository institutions; certified development companies, micro-loan institutions; state and federal credit unions and some community banks
.
I strongly advise that if your business has not yet received a loan, and if one of the big banks have not helped you, apply elsewhere. Here is a
list of participating lende
r
s. Unfortunately, the list, provided by SBA, gives no locations or contacts. As a start, you can compare that list to a list of banks in Illinois, with addresses, at this
useful website.
The PPP program is now also open to sole proprietorships, independent contractors and self-employed persons.
Please forward this newsletter to anyone you know with a small business.
