In the SBA Release Number: 21-72 issued on 8/18/2021, the SBA mentioned that in the last two week the PPP Direct Borrower Forgiveness Portal accepted more than 340K submissions. This might be an excellent tool for some lenders that are not processing on time some of the PPP forgiveness applications if they signed up for this option. If you have issues with your lender and your lender opted in for the Direct Borrower Forgiveness program, then, you can apply directly here. Note that some users have been having issues accessing this portal getting different error messages.
This is an extract of the News Release (for the full News Release follow this link):
“We are incredibly excited that in just two weeks, the Direct Borrower Forgiveness Portal is providing small businesses with a streamlined, user-friendly way to apply for forgiveness and receive relief on these essential PPP loans,” said Patrick Kelley, Associate Administrator for SBA’s Office of Capital Access. “Already, we’ve seen hundreds of thousands of borrowers navigating quickly and easily through the process, and we continue to proactively help borrowers apply through extensive outreach and webinar trainings. We encourage all lenders to opt-in to this tested portal.”
In the two weeks since the portal opened, the SBA has received over three times the number of submissions than the top 10 PPP lenders who are not participating in Direct Forgiveness, putting us on pace to close out forgiveness for the 3.4 million direct forgiveness borrowers by the end of the year. Currently, more than 1,230 PPP lenders, representing over 50% of outstanding loan forgiveness applications, have opted-in to the Direct Borrower Forgiveness Portal.
“The direct forgiveness platform has been very effective and efficient in processing applications from tens of thousands of our PPP borrowers already. This has been tremendously smooth for our borrowers, our institution, and for SBA,” said Chris Hurn, CEO of Fountainhead. “Our borrowers’ feedback has been universally positive about its ease of use in completing their applications within mere minutes. We’re very proud to have played a small part in helping make this a reality.”
Before direct forgiveness, borrowers had to take the initiative to download forgiveness forms or get forms from their banks to complete and submit. Some lenders had not yet built the technology or processes to even begin accepting forgiveness applications, and many did not actively reach out to borrowers to help them through the process. Forgiveness was not user-friendly, which is why millions of borrowers, including over 700,000 loans made in 2020, had yet to submit their one-page application.
Through this simpler process, SBA proactively reaches out to borrowers and provides a pre-populated forgiveness form to the borrower that they can complete in the new direct forgiveness portal. Borrowers can submit using a computer or smartphone. On average users submit their applications in only six minutes and receive their forgiveness decisions within a week from the date of submission. Of the 340,000 applications submitted through the portal, half have already been approved for full or partial forgiveness, totaling more than $2.4 billion.
