The American Institute of CPAs offered suggestions on how the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program should deal with forgiving loans.
Elected officials are better off deciding who’s most deserving of federally backed coronavirus relief funds for small businesses.
Queued-up loans. Extra bankers. Government tweaks to promote fairness. None of these precautionary measures has been enough for the second round of the Paycheck Protection Program to avoid the pitfalls of the first.
As banks accept new applications for the paycheck program, they are dogged by complaints that they prioritized wealthy borrowers. But lenders likely fast-tracked clients they knew best under difficult circumstances, observers say.
Payroll giant Paychex is partnering with Biz2Credit, Fundera and Lendio to help small businesses apply for the new funding offered by the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says the additional funding Congress approved Thursday to help small businesses survive the coronavirus pandemic should be the last round, but advocates fear it’ll run out quickly and won’t be enough for mom-and-pop shops struggling to stay open.
The policy move will allow small institutions participating in the Paycheck Protection Program to pledge business loans as collateral to obtain advances.
Lawmakers should approve a program to distribute stimulus funds using a government-sanctioned coin, which would be speedier than the current system.
The program, created in response to the 2008 financial crisis, generated $19 billion in small-business loans. It could be used as a viable path out of the coronavirus pandemic.
The House is expected to vote later this week on the bill expanding emergency relief for small businesses reeling from the effects of the coronavirus.