Friday, October 4, 2024

Contact your congressional delegation about PPP loan forgiveness

Here’s what your OBA is currently doing to help your small business customers:

PPP Loan Forgiveness of all PPP loans less than $150,000

Over the past 10 days, the OBA has been working with our congressional delegation, asking it to co-sponsor two bills, one in the Senate (S. 4117) and now one (H.R. 7777) in the House of Representatives. So far, only Rep. Frank Lucas (R-3rd) has agreed to co-sponsor the House version.

It’s important for all interested parties, both lenders and its small business customers, to continue to apply pressure on Congress to pass H.R. 7777, or its Senate companion, S. 4117. Here’s why:

1. Your bank’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) borrowers that received loan disbursements at the beginning of April must start repaying those loans in October, which is two months away.

2. The SBA loan forgiveness application portal will not even be open until Aug. 10.

3. SBA then has 90 days to make a decision on a forgiveness application that’s been submitted.

4. Most of your bank’s PPP borrowers will be shocked when you tell them they must start making payments on their PPP loans before there’s even been a determination on whether the loan will be forgiven in whole or in part.

5. The blowback from your small business customer is likely to land on your desk!

For many of Oklahoma’s smallest businesses, this payment shock can be avoided by congressional approval of a much more streamlined PPP loan forgiveness plan for small-dollar loans, like the one contained in S. 4117 and H.R. 7777. That plan will forgive all PPP loans of $150,000 or less.

According to the SBA, PPP loans of $150,000 or less make up about 85 percent of the TOTAL OF ALL PPP LOANS. However, these same loans make up less than 26 percent of total PPP loan dollars. The borrower must complete a one-page application asking for that forgiveness and, by doing so, avoids spending hours or has to hire an outside expert to deal with unnecessary and complicated paperwork.

Please call your U.S. representative and our state’s two senators and explain why this is a good result for your bank’s small business customers. Ask them to co-sponsor the respective bills (House – H.R. 7777) or (Senate S. 4117).

This is really an important issue for your bank’s small business customers. We are asking you to help us get this measure enacted into law. It will only take you about 5 minutes – tops – to make the call or send the email. Otherwise we will have another round of utter confusion and chaos for both your bank and its customers.

Thanks very much!

Sen. Jim Inhofe
(202) 224-4721
Jake Hinch (Banking LA)
jake_hinch@inhofe.senate.gov

Sen. James Lankford

(202) 224-5754
Jesse Mahan (Banking LA)
jesse_mahan@lankford.senate.gov

Rep. Kevin Hern (OK-1)
(202) 225-2211
Mike Martin (Banking LA)
michael.martin@mail.house.gov

Rep. Markwayne Mullin (OK-2)
(202) 225-2701
Matthew Brownlee (Legislative Director)
matthew.brownlee@mail.house.gov

Rep. Tom Cole (OK-4)
(202) 225-6165
Shane Hand (Banking LA)
shane.hand@mail.house.gov

Rep. Kendra Horn (OK-5)
(202) 225-2132
Charlie Chamness (Banking LA)
charlie.chamness@mail.house.gov