Paycheck Protection Program has major issues, bankers say

It was a rocky start as small businesses and Nevada banks began round two of the Paycheck Protection Program this week.

The program offers loans designed to provide a direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll. The PPP promises to be a lifeline for businesses that have been financially affected by COVID-19. When the portal was opened this week with a new round of funding, bankers got to work, or at least tried.

Nevada banks are experiencing varying levels of success depending on whether they are using an automated system versus a manual system. In any case, Nevada Bankers Association leaders believe the Small Business Administration’s first priority should be to dedicate the needed resources to even the playing field, making the process fair for all small businesses and their banking partners.

“Most association members I’ve spoken with reported significant delays and issues with the application process,” said NBA President and CEO Phyllis Gurgevich in a press release. “The SBA boasted 100,000 loans by more than 4,000 lenders for this latest round starting Monday. However, that’s 25 loans on average, and there are more than 5,300 approved lenders. So, their own claim shows that about 20% of the lenders haven’t been able to process a single loan. The question is, what has happened to those remaining lenders in processing the loans?”

Bankers are reporting having trouble with accessing the system as well as entering applications. They are receiving numerous error messages and intermittently are being booted off the system completely.

NBA implores the Treasury and SBA to invest the required resources that will allow the system to accommodate the increased volume created by their approval of additional lenders and provide a stable system for lenders to access fairly and equally so that businesses will receive assistance fairly and equally.

For more information on the Paycheck Protection Program, visit SBA’s website at www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/coronavirus-relief-options

For more information on the Nevada Bankers Association, visit www.nvbankers.org

NBA is guided by a volunteer board of directors. There are currently eight members, from both southern and northern Nevada. The organization can also be contacted by phone at 702-233-8607.