Are you one of the 6.5 million folks who earned a PPP Loan but have not yet filed for forgiveness? Congratulations, you are in good company, because over 50% of folks who received a PPP Loan have not filed for forgiveness. The reason there are so many of you is quite simply because the process is complicated. Pick any combination of these reasons:

• The PPP program rules keep changing
• The words and terminology don’t seem to apply to your situation
• Every bank uses a different process. (I have filed over a dozen forgiveness applications, and I got stuck somewhere on each one.)
• Basic procrastination

I don’t want to encourage more procrastination but know that you can file for forgiveness anytime until you pay off the loan. HOWEVER you will need to begin making interest and principal payments 16 months after you received the funds (technically 10 months after your 24-week covered period).

If you received your PPP Loan in mid-May, then expect to begin making payments around August 30th.

Here’s a tip: once you submit your forgiveness application, you won’t need to make any payments until you receive a final determination on forgiveness. So do yourself a favor and do it now. For all loans below $150,000, the process is simple. The SBA opened their own portal (finally) to speed up this process. The SBA calls this the Direct Forgiveness program. If your bank has signed up, then the process is even simpler.

Check if your bank is participating by clicking HERE. This list is updated regularly. These tend to be the smaller banks that didn’t have the staff to manage the loans or build portals. If you don’t see your bank, give them a call, and ask if they plan on participating.

Here is the new SBA Portal

As always, reach out to us HERE if you need any assistance. You will sleep better once you get this handled. Promise.