Updated 3/31/2020: Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act
I hope you are well and you are taking some time to find joy in the quiet moments. As you are most certainly aware The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was passed by both chambers yesterday and awaits the President’s signature. I have had many of my clients already reach out to me looking for information, so I am spending my quiet time finding and compiling credible information for you – which actually brings me joy! J
So, what have I found so far to help you as you consider applying for the funds? Plenty! My contact, Christine, at the Lord Fairfax Small Business Development Center sent some great resources which I am attaching for your reading and clicking pleasure too. The big thing is MOST businesses and non-profits in my market will qualify for assistance of some sort through this Act!
Read the linked U.S. Chamber Small Business ELA Loan Guide, it gives an excellent overview of who and what can qualify and for how much (pretty much what you are wanting to know from me first and foremost!). Next is the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship’s “The Small Business Owner’s Guide to the CARES Act” which provides additional resources and click through hyperlinks to dig through – including the Paycheck Protection Program (P3 or PPP). These are the “forgivable” loans and includes a FAQ that will answer most of your common questions (I am not going to create a custom FAQ on this program, as this will cover most of them).
Please bear with me, as this is all hot off the press an once the President signs the bill, the SBA has 15 days to roll it out (not sure if this is 15 calendar or 15 business days). We don’t have any direction on what will be needed as far as paperwork yet – but rest assured, I will be in constant communication as we learn more in the coming days. UVA Community Credit Union is a preferred SBA lender and will be one of the local financial institutions offering these loans, so I can be your point of contact as they become available.
In the meanwhile, please read the materials and ready yourself for the application process. I imagine it will be much like the other Economic Injury Disaster Loans with a different set of SBA paperwork. The good news is it will be underwritten locally at the Credit Union – or your local bank, and not have to go to the Ethernet to be underwritten like the EIDL program. This will allow us as humans you know and trust to work with you as we get through this difficult time together.
If you have questions (after you read the materials), please let me know; if I don’t know the answer, I will do my best to get it for you. This is all new and I will be learning on the fly too – luckily I have great partners at the SBA Regional office and Lord Fairfax SBDC to help me when I get a doozy J
UPDATE: March 31, 2020
We continue to monitor the ever changing SBA website and gather more information for you and wanted to give you some updates:
Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program:
- The SBA rolled-out a new Economic Injury Disaster Loan website yesterday – it appears to be MUCH better and quicker to apply!https://covid19relief.sba.gov/#/
- The CARES Act included $10,000 Advance on the EIDL application. One of the fields you can complete on the application is to apply for the advance. This advance funding is a grant and may be available as long as you successfully complete the application - even if your EIDL application is still pending or ultimately declined, it is still forgiven. This is ONLY available on the EIDL program and not the Paycheck Protection Program, which is totally separate.
- If you already successfully applied for the EIDL program before the new website was available and you did not get to apply for the Advance grant, YOU MUST complete a new application and apply for the advance!!! This is new information and not what the prior directives have been before this morning! I do not know if you get a new application number or not, etc.
- I have linked Updated FAQ for this program
I am attaching the same information as I sent over the weekend, but with some quick clarification on a couple of questions I have received several times:
- YES! You may have both an EIDL and PPP loan. While I recognize each business is unique and has unique needs, I am recommending that companies consider applying for both to have the most levers to pull in the future if the economy doesn’t recover as quickly as anticipated. I would rather see my clients have access to extra funds that they do not use than to not have access when push comes to shove so to speak. If you don’t take a draw on the EIDL, you don’t have to pay for it. You only pay for what you draw (and not for the $10K advance grant of course).
- The SBA has not provided lenders with what information on what to gather, forms to complete, etc. yet. Please rest assured I will send you this information as soon as we have it available. This could take two to three weeks to get this information (hopefully less, but be prepared, this is not going to be a fast process as it has to be built at both the SBA and here in the field and we will get inundated with requests).
- What I am recommending is to get your 2019 taxes– or at a bare minimum the YE Profit & Loss Statement and Balance Sheet as well as your YTD financials and 2019 and YTD payroll records to be ready. We don’t know what else yet, but those should at least get you a jump start when the gates open.
Stay well!
Amelia J. Stansell
Senior Commercial Loan Officer
UVA Community Credit Union
