Florida Senator Marco Rubio said Monday on Twitter that the main challenge with PPP is no longer lender confusion, but that more lenders, including non-bank lenders, are needed to speed up distribution.
Fintechs are starting to take part in the PPP when almost three-quarters of the $349 billion program has already been allocated. The funding may run out as early as Thursday, top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said. An effort to add an additional $250 billion has stalled in Congress.
PayPal is offering access to the PPP to its existing 10 million merchants through a relationship with WebBank, a Salt Lake City-based bank that it already partners with for its Working Capital business. The company’s first emergency-loan borrowers include a chiropractic office in Kansas City, Missouri; a nail salon in Bayonne, New Jersey; and a shoe store in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the PayPal representative said.
Automated Process
Intuit is using QuickBooks Capital, its existing business-loan platform, to automate and expedite the PPP application process, according to a company statement. Square’s program is first being offered to users of the Square payments platform, but the company said it plans to extend it to other borrowers once processes start moving more efficiently. The company has yet to approve any PPP applications.
“We launched when we were confident we could provide a smooth processing experience for all applicants, to give sellers more transparency around the status of their funds,” Reses said. “This is also why we’ve staggered our application rollout to Square sellers, as loan reviews are still a manual process.”
Now that fintechs have PPP approval, the next challenge is getting enough funding from the federal government to reach everyone in need, said Mills of Harvard Business School.
“I’m encouraged by the progress,” she said, “but we are not quite at the point we need to be where billions of dollars are flowing seamlessly to smaller and more vulnerable businesses.”
--With assistance from Mark Niquette.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.