IDAHO — The U.S. Small Business Administration is making sure more mom-and-pop businesses can overcome hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Business with less than 20 employees can apply for PPP loans and there are no competitions from the bigger businesses so their application should go quicker and smoother. That’s going to last until March 9, and then after that, all businesses will be able to apply until March 31 when PPP ends,” said Gary Eisenbraun, SBA Director for the Boise District Office.
The 14-day period would allow businesses and nonprofits with fewer employees to apply for a Paycheck Protection Program loan.
“The first thing they have to do is go to their lender, the financial institutions that they are currently using, or just about any lender can help them apply to apply for a PPP loan," Eisenbraun said.
Recent data from SBA shows more than $489 million has been distributed to Idaho's small businesses since the PPP reopened in January.
“There have been several instances of business just surviving through this pandemic. Surviving through the issues that they had from all kinds of problems related to social distancing," Eisenbraun said. "But many businesses, it had certainly helped them survive and go over this crunch."
SBA said changes to the PPP include:
- Establish a 14-day, exclusive PPP loan application period for businesses and nonprofits with fewer than 20 employees
- Allow sole proprietors, independent contractors, and self-employed individuals to receive more financial support by revising the PPP’s funding formula for these categories of applicants
- Eliminate an exclusionary restriction on PPP access for small business owners with prior non-fraud felony convictions, consistent with a bipartisan congressional proposal
- Eliminate PPP access restrictions on small business owners who have struggled to make federal student loan payments by eliminating federal student loan debt delinquency and default as disqualifiers to participating in the PPP; and
- Ensure access for non-citizen small business owners who are lawful U.S. residents by clarifying that they may use Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) to apply for the PPP.
