I have been personally going through the process since last Wednesday. Originally I started with Wells Fargo,since the bank I have my business accounts with is not an SBA bank. A day into it, Wells Fargo told me that the legislation stated the borrower had to have a business checking account with the bank as of February 15th or else the borrower could not go through that bank so I could not apply through Wells Fargo as I only had personal accounts with them.
I could not believe this was true since it would leave so many small businesses, especially those that banked with smaller local banks, out of the entire program. I reached out to the small business liaison at both my Congressman and Senator's offices and they assured me this was a mis-reading of the legislation,that a business needed to BE in business on February 15th to be eligible. Armed with that information, I was able to work with another local bank who was willing to take my application.
The application itself is quite simple but all of the calculations/back up documentation for my firm was done by my accountant who also runs our payroll. You need payroll, healthcare payment and retirement account payment information for 2019. We submitted our completed application just this afternoon. In the meantime Wells Fargo had sent me a generic email stating they were holding off a few days before accepting any applications,awaiting some clarifications from the government. I cannot verify this but I had heard on one of the financial shows that some large banks are waiting on processing any of the loans because they believe the legislation is unclear as to when portions of the loan are forgiven, who is taking the financial loss of the forgiving, the bank or the Federal gov. Note the loan is intended to be used for payroll, rent/mortgage or similar expenses of running a firm. The intent is to keep folks employed. You will need to have documentation of how the money was spent to get the forgiveness.
I will update my post as the process continues. Good luck to all, these times are potentially incredibly difficult for firms but this programs seems like it could be a huge help.
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[ Nea May] [Poole] AIA
[Principal]
[Poole & Poole Architecture, LLC]
[Midlothian, ] [Virginia]
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-04-2020 17:08
From: Clark Davis
Subject: SBA Paycheck Protection Program
I've received several questions about eligibility and experiences with the SBA's Paycheck Protection Program, which became available yesterday as part of the CARES Act. It is intended to provide forgivable loans to support payroll and other qualified expenses for businesses smaller than 500 people. Applications are made through SBA-affiliated banks. Does anyone have information or experiences to share with colleagues in other firms? Stay well...
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Clark Davis FAIA
Principal Consultant
Cameron Macallister Group
Saint Louis MO
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