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Small business owners asked to sign onto PPP loans with no guarantee of forgiveness

By Bryce Covert | 24 April 2020

THE INTERCEPT — Randy George had never laid anyone off in his 20 years running his bakery and café in Middlesex, Vermont. But after Vermont Gov. Phil Scott shut down restaurants to slow the spread of the coronavirus, half of his sales disappeared virtually overnight. He’s had to put 28 of the staff of Red Hen Baking Co. on furlough. George decided to sign up for a loan through the Paycheck Protection Program, created by Congress’s CARES Act relief bill to help small business owners stay afloat. At first, the program was funded with $350 billion, an amount that ran out about two weeks after it began; Congress is now working on a deal to add another $320 billion.

The key feature of these loans, which are being run by the Small Business Administration, is that they are supposed to be entirely forgiven if an owner spends most of the money on payroll and doesn’t lay anyone off. The details of how that forgiveness will work, however, are far from clear, making some small business owners wary to use it at all.

In bank loan contracts reviewed by The Intercept, owners have been asked to sign onto terms that said that “forgiveness may apply” or “all or part of the Loan may be forgiven” — releasing the banks from liability but giving business owners no contractual guarantee of loan forgiveness, or even guidance on how to comply with the rules or how to pursue it. One didn’t mention forgiveness at all. […]

1 Comment on Small business owners asked to sign onto PPP loans with no guarantee of forgiveness

  1. Saw a German language meme about this: It’s like someone shooting you in the kneecaps, then offering you a loan to cover the medical costs.

    And despite running $1t+ deficits, suddenly “poof” there is $350b available to be handed out; gee, where did that money come from? — oh and by the way, if it’s not repaid or forgiven, they have a claim on real assets, like this guy’s bakery.

    Americans are so dumb.

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