The Paycheck Protection Program created by Congress to rescue small businesses using forgivable loans still has $126.5 billion in funding left, according to the Small Business Administration.
While some banks have stopped taking applications for PPP loans, it’s only because they believe the amount they have in their pipelines will use up the remaining funding, Cowen Washington Research Group said in a note to clients on Thursday.
Over 5,400 lenders are taking part in the PPP, according to the SBA. So, if one lender is declining new applications, try another one. For a list of SBA-approved PPP lenders by state, click here.
The loans are intended to help companies impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic keep employees on their payrolls. The PPP was created as part of the $2.2 trillion Cares Act.
After PPP ran out of funds in mid-April, Congress passed another bill to replenish it. The two rounds of funding totaled $669 billion, making it the largest rescue program since 2008’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) that provided loans to the nation’s largest banks and insurers.
The second round of funding reserved $60 billion for community and regional banks.
Any small business, nonprofit group, veterans organization, tribally owned enterprise, sole proprietorship, or independent contractor may meet the eligibility requirements for a PPP loan, according to SBA guidelines.
About 14% of real estate companies in the U.S. – including sales, leasing and maintenance firms – got funding in the first PPP round, based on SBA data covering the April 3 to April 13 period.
That’s almost on par with the 15% industry share for hotels and restaurants – among the hardest hit businesses as states shut down their economies in March to stem the spread of COVID-19.
The shares are based on Labor Department data on the number of businesses in industries covered by the program.
