In an effort to speed forgiveness of Paycheck Protection Program loans, the government yesterday opened an online portal through which small businesses that borrowed up to $150,000 can apply to have their loans eliminated, the New York Times reported. The Small Business Administration, which administers the program, hopes the new system will streamline the process both for borrowers and for the program’s nearly 5,500 lenders, which collectively made 11.8 million government-backed loans totaling $800 billion between April 2020 and May 2021. Until now, each lender had to set up its own process for collecting loan forgiveness applications and sending them to the S.B.A. for approval. The new system “will simplify forgiveness for millions of our smallest businesses,” said Isabel Casillas Guzman, the agency’s administrator. About 92 percent of the program’s loans fall under the portal’s $150,000 cap. But there’s a sticking point: Lenders also have to agree to use the portal, otherwise the service won’t work for the borrower. So far, about 900 lenders have signed on, but many of the program’s largest lenders, especially big banks, are not on board. Several lenders said they preferred to stick with their own processes out of concern that steering customers to the S.B.A.’s portal would create confusion. Banks are also leery of relying on an agency that has struggled throughout the pandemic with buggy and overloaded technology systems.
