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Today, the Small Business Administration (SBA) announced that the initial $349 billion in funds allotted to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) through the CARES Act has been exhausted. While it is our hope that Congress will move swiftly to put additional dollars into the program, U.S. Bank wants to provide an update on what this means for applicants still going through the process toward funding.
At the time of the announcement, U.S. Bank had secured funding for more than 17,000 customers, with applications from thousands more actively moving through the process, toward submission to the SBA. As Congress works on the possibility of additional funding, we will continue to aggressively move customers through the process to have them ready for the final SBA steps as soon as, we hope, program continues.
In anticipation of this possibility, the below is a detailed rundown of what U.S. Bank is doing to continue its support of business owners based on current positioning in the previously shared multi-step process.
- Inquiry Form: U.S. Bank will no longer take new requests for information, with focus going forward dedicated to businesses already in the queue prior to the exhaustion of the initial funding.
- Step 1 – Initial Application and Certification: We will temporarily close the digital application process to new applicants pending additional funding.
- Steps 2-3 – Application Review and Document Submission: For applications already submitted, U.S. Bank will continue to work around the clock to move these applicants as far as possible through the process. This will include asking for, and receiving, documents from customers. All customers in steps 2 through 4 will receive an email from the bank updating them on our plans and next steps.
- Step 4 – Payroll Review: The 1,000-plus person team of U.S. Bank bankers who are volunteering to support the payroll review process, will continue that work around the clock to prepare to submit customer information to the SBA if, or when, the program reopens.
- Step 5 – Submittal to SBA: Should additional funds become available, U.S. Bank will have applications that have gone through the above steps immediately ready to submit.
Over the past few weeks the bank has made significant improvements to the process and work continues to allow for the expansion of the program if, or when, it reopens:
- Businesses with three or more owners: We continue development to support businesses with 3+ owners through the digital process and plan to be ready to stand that up should additional funding become available.
- Non-customers: We continue to finalize a solution that will allow us to support non-customers. However, we are committed to processing the customers applications currently in our queue before we open the application process further.
U.S. Bank will continue to update customers through the process and will provide additional updates on its progress funding PPP applicants at usbank.com/newsroom and through social media.