The American Bankers Association today urged the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration to issue, as soon as possible, “clear, bright-line guidance” on how the Paycheck Protection Program loans will be forgiven.
“The forgiveness process will be new for both borrowers and lenders, and it is important that there is sufficient time to educate bank staff on the mechanics,” ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols said in a letter. He added that if guidance cannot be issued well before the May 14 safe harbor deadline for repaying loans, the deadline should be extended.
“This program has already provided more than 4 million loans to small businesses across the country, but until we resolve some of these remaining issues, this financial lifeline will remain a work in progress,” Nichols wrote. “Only by finalizing this much-needed guidance will borrowers and banks have the certainty they need to move forward.”
In other PPP news, SBA announced that it had approved 2.5 million round two PPP loans amounting to $185.4 billion as of 5 p.m. EDT yesterday, up $2 billion from the approved total on Wednesday.
Of that total, approximately 1.17 million loans were made by lenders with over $50 billion in assets, 350,000 by lenders with $10-50 billion in assets and 969,000 by lenders with under $10 billion. The average loan size for round two was $74,304.
