Local banks continue to accept applications for PPP

Old National Bank and Comerica Bank offices in Manchester are ready to serve their clients who need assistance with PPP applications.

On April 16, it was reported that the Small Business Administration’s $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) had officially run out of money, after less than two weeks. Congress acted quickly to approve an additional $320 billion in funds to the program last week, but those funds are expected to be short-lived as well.

Regardless, businesses in the Manchester area are encouraged to file an application in anticipation of the additional funding, and also an additional $60 billion is being appropriated to smaller banks serving "underrepresented communities." Both Cindy Clark at Comerica Bank and Tammy Melcher at Old National Bank stand ready to help their business clients get the funding they need to continue their operations through and beyond the current COVID-19 crisis.

According to a corporate spokesman, Comerica Bank is continuing to accept loan applications for the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program in expectation of additional funds being approved.

A press release from the bank indicated that Comerica had already received more than 12,000 applications by Thursday, April 23. The PPP application is available to all existing Comerica business checking or business savings account customers as of February 15, 2020.

Comerica is requesting that its business customers go to comerica.com to apply for a PPP loan, if they have not done so already (if a customer has applied, that customer does not need to apply a second time). In advance of completing the application, customers should review Comerica’s PPP Online Application Guide for important information about eligibility and tips about properly completing the application. Comerica customers can apply for a PPP loan on comerica.com: https://www.comerica.com/campaigns/covid-19/Business.html#1

"Every customer who has expressed an interest has received communication from us inviting them to apply," according to the spokesman. "And, upon receiving their applications, we are processing and queuing them up for submission to the SBA as soon as additional funds are approved by the U.S. government. More than 1,000 Comerica colleagues are supporting this program."

At Old National Bank, Melcher said, "It’s been crazy but the good thing is that we have been able to help quite a few businesses." Hopefully, she added, when SBA opens back up the bank will be able to help that many more.

"This was a huge project put together in a very short time," she said. "I am so proud of my coworkers at Old National Bank for stepping up to the challenge. Obviously our (local) businesses have been hit hard and we feel it. Since this program was announced, we have had hundreds of employees working around the clock since April 3 to validate and fund every qualified application that we’ve received."

Even since the original funding was maxed out, ONB representatives have continued to work on every loan application and prepare it for funding in the second round.

"This very important topic to our community, because it weighs heavy on all our hearts right now as we all want to support the community," Melcher concluded.

Matt Barnhart, the Comerica spokesman, said, "We look forward to receiving confirmation that the PPP funds are available by the Federal Government, so we can move the process forward of getting these critical dollars into the hands of our customers. We hope that every one of our customers who is eligible receives funding."

But it is important to remember that due to extremely high demand for this program, all institutions who are accepting applications cannot guarantee how quickly the volume of applications can be processed and prepared for submission to the SBA, nor guarantee that funds will still be available at the time an application reaches the submission stage.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.