New Paycheck Protection Program forgiveness portal goes live
In efforts to streamline Paycheck Protection Program loan forgiveness, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has created a new portal allowing borrowers to apply for forgiveness directly through the SBA.
The new forgiveness platform, which will go live on August 4, was created to help small businesses get relief as fast as possible. The portal can be used by any business with loans less than $150,000 provided through participating lenders.
According to FederalPay.org, a free public resource for U.S. government employees, businesses that classified themselves as boat dealers accounted for 3,914 PPP loans totaling more than $340 million, as of December 1, 2020. The average PPP loan taken by a business classified as a boat dealer was $86,846, and 84.6 of those businesses received loans amounting to less than $150,000. Furthermore, over 600 banks have opted in to participate in the direct forgiveness program, enabling over 2.17 million borrowers to apply for direct forgiveness.
“It is great to see the SBA doing what they can to take the burden off of small businesses during these difficult times,” said Chad Tokowicz, Government Relations Manager for the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas. “Allowing loan forgiveness to go directly through the SBA and not a bank will save our members and other businesses in the boating industry time, which is at a premium at this point of the season.”
The SBA is also setting up a PPP customer service team to answer any questions and assist borrowers directly with their forgiveness applications. The number is 877-552-2692, Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. EST.
The Direct Forgiveness Portal can be accessed here and additional information and instructions on how to use the portal can be found here.
