News Topic: Small business lending

A former economist says high-ranking officials engaged in “legally risky” behavior to downplay consumer harm; online payments and contactless transactions jumped in the first quarter, and some think the new habits will stick. ... Read full article

The Small Business Administration's last-minute plan to temporarily block larger banks from the relief loan program is another example of the agency changing the rules midstream, critics said. ... Read full article

The Small Business Administration has processed more than 476,000 applications from struggling small-business owners, but lenders say access to the second round of the Paycheck Protection Program has been spotty. ... Read full article

Elected officials are better off deciding who’s most deserving of federally backed coronavirus relief funds for small businesses. ... Read full article

Portal crashes, technology glitches, last-minute changes in guidance, renewed suspicions about loan dispersal: Meet the new Paycheck Protection Program, same as the old Paycheck Protection Program. ... Read full article

Queued-up loans. Extra bankers. Government tweaks to promote fairness. None of these precautionary measures has been enough for the second round of the Paycheck Protection Program to avoid the pitfalls of the first. ... Read full article

Community banks that have used the Paycheck Protection Program to help businesses ride out the coronavirus outbreak are looking to turn that goodwill into deeper loan and deposit relationships down the road. ... Read full article

As banks accept new applications for the paycheck program, they are dogged by complaints that they prioritized wealthy borrowers. But lenders likely fast-tracked clients they knew best under difficult circumstances, observers say. ... Read full article

The Small Business Administration's systems froze up shortly after the latest Paycheck Protection Program was launched Monday morning. ... Read full article

The billionaire investor and entrepreneur sees problems with small businesses having to apply for loans to get coronavirus relief. He says a more efficient approach would be to let them run negative balances on their bank accounts. ... Read full article

Lenders are being urged to prepare applications for the latest version of the Paycheck Protection Program. ... Read full article

The central bank and other agencies have come under pressure to be transparent about their use of funds authorized by the recent pandemic rescue law. ... Read full article

Lawmakers should approve a program to distribute stimulus funds using a government-sanctioned coin, which would be speedier than the current system. ... Read full article

A backlog has formed since the first round of Paycheck Protection Program funding dried up, threatening to further strain a platform that struggled to handle the initial workload. ... Read full article

The program, created in response to the 2008 financial crisis, generated $19 billion in small-business loans. It could be used as a viable path out of the coronavirus pandemic. ... Read full article

Small banks are a lifeline for many local businesses and should be given first crack at distributing funds from a continuation of the federal stimulus program. ... Read full article

Bank of America and U.S. Bancorp were also named in a lawsuit filed in Sunday in which the banks are accused of prioritizing large loans distributed through the Paycheck Protection Program in order to maximize fees. ... Read full article

From stimulus checks to the Paycheck Protection Program, the government’s infusion of cash into an economy reeling from the coronavirus pandemic has primarily helped those who already strong banking relationships. ... Read full article