PPP Direct Borrower Forgiveness Portal Exceeds Expectations

Accepts over 340,000 submissions in less than two weeks

August 20, 2021

Since the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Direct Borrower Forgiveness Portal opened on August 4, the US Small Business Administration has received more than 340,000 submissions from borrowers with PPP loans of $ 150,000 or less, highlighting the Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman’s priority to accelerate relief to the smallest of small businesses and far exceeding expectations.

By providing its new streamlined portal, the SBA is also executing the Biden-Harris administration’s goal of centering equity in all programs. With outstanding debt weighing on millions of disadvantaged and underserved small businesses, the increased PPP borrower forgiveness rate will have an immediate effect in helping smaller businesses recover from the pandemic and gain access to financial services. ‘other resources. Prior to this option, companies that did not request a rebate within 10 months of the end of the period covered risked having to repay principal and interest on their PPP loans.

“We are extremely pleased that in just two weeks, the Direct Borrower Forgiveness Portal is giving small businesses a simplified and user-friendly way to request a rebate and get relief on these essential PPP loans,” said Patrick Kelley. , associate administrator of the SBA. Capital access office. “Already, we’ve seen hundreds of thousands of borrowers navigate the process quickly and easily, and we continue to proactively help borrowers apply through in-depth training and webinars. We encourage all lenders to join this tested portal.

In the two weeks since the portal opened, the SBA received more than three times the number of submissions as the top 10 PPP lenders that do not participate in direct forgiveness, allowing us to close forgiveness for 3.4 million direct forgiveness borrowers at the end of the year. Currently, more than 1,230 PPP lenders, representing over 50% of outstanding loan cancellation requests, have opted for the Direct Borrower Forgiveness Portal.

“The direct remittance platform has already been very effective and efficient in processing applications from tens of thousands of our PPP borrowers. It has gone very well for our borrowers, our institution and for SBA, ”said Chris Hurn, CEO of Fountainhead. “Feedback from our borrowers has been universally positive about its ease of use in completing their applications in just a few minutes. We are very proud to have played a small role in helping to make this a reality.

Before direct remittance, borrowers had to take the initiative to download remittance forms or obtain forms from their bank to fill out and submit. Some lenders had yet to put the technology or processes in place to even begin accepting rebate requests, and many did not actively reach out to borrowers to help them through the process. Forgiveness was not user-friendly, which is why millions of borrowers, including more than 700,000 loans made in 2020, had yet to submit their one-page application.

Through this simpler process, the SBA proactively contacts borrowers and provides the borrower with a pre-filled remittance form that they can complete in the new direct remittance portal. Borrowers can submit using a computer or smartphone. On average, users submit their requests in just six minutes and receive their forgiveness decisions within a week of the submission date. Of the 340,000 claims submitted through the portal, half have already been approved for full or partial remission, for a total of more than $ 2.4 billion.

Borrowers who wish to start their application can access the portal here. The SBA also encourages interested borrowers to attend an upcoming live webinar and question-and-answer sessions:

August 19, 2021, 2:30 p.m. EDT

August 26, 2021, 2:30 p.m. EDT

September 2, 2021, 2:30 p.m. EDT

Borrowers whose loans are made through banks that have chosen not to enroll in the SBA Direct Discount Portal should request a discount through their lender. To ensure direct forgiveness relief goes to the communities and small businesses that need it most, the SBA remains committed to reducing fraud across all programs.

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