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Regulation and Compliance > Federal Regulation

SBA to Launch PPP Loan Forgiveness Portal

By Melanie Waddell

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What You Need to Know

  • Borrowers with Paycheck Protection Program loans of $150,000 or less may apply for forgiveness through the portal.
  • The vast majority of businesses waiting for forgiveness have loans under this threshold, the SBA says.
  • The new forgiveness platform will begin accepting applications from borrowers on Aug. 4.

The Small Business Administration said Wednesday that it will launch in early August a streamlined application portal to allow borrowers with Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans of $150,000 or less through participating lenders to apply for forgiveness.

The new forgiveness platform will begin accepting applications from borrowers on Aug. 4.

“The SBA’s new streamlined application portal will simplify forgiveness for millions of our smallest businesses — including many sole proprietors — who used funds from our Paycheck Protection Program loans to survive the pandemic,” SBA Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman said in a statement.

“The vast majority of businesses waiting for forgiveness have loans under $150,000,” Guzman said.

The new portal will “help rush relief to over 6.5 million smallest of small businesses,” the SBA said.

Lenders are required to opt in to the portal program at https://directforgiveness.sba.gov.

The SBA is also setting up a PPP customer service team to answer questions and directly assist borrowers with their forgiveness applications. Borrowers that need assistance or have questions should call 877-552-2692, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time.

The SBA and lenders have originated more than 11.7 million loans totaling nearly $800 billion in relief to over 8.5 million small businesses.

In 2021:

  • The SBA approved over 6.5 million loans totaling over $275 billion.
  • The average loan size was about $42,000, compared with $101,000 in 2020.
  • 96% of loans went to businesses with fewer than 20 employees, compared with 87% in 2020.
  • 32% of loans went to businesses in low- and moderate-income communities, compared with 24% in 2020.

More than 600 banks have opted in to direct forgiveness, enabling over 2.17 million borrowers to apply through the portal, which represents 30% of loans $150,000 or less that have not yet applied for forgiveness, the SBA said.

The SBA said in early June that it had stopped accepting PPP loan guarantee applications, which provided more than $798 billion to small businesses during the pandemic.

Melanie Waddell

@Think_MelanieW

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