It came down to the wire, but I finally received Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funding for Live and Let’s Fly. If you are still waiting on a conventional institution, it’s time to look elsewhere.
PPP: Chase, You Let Me Down. Kabbage, Thank You Very Much.
You’d think that this should have been easy. I have an eight-year relationship with Chase on the business side and an enthusiastic and caring Private Client banker who is responsive and proactive. I filled out all required forms and attached requested documents via an easy-t0-use section of the Chase website. This occurred on April 2nd, shortly after the program went live last month.
I was told to wait. So I waited. And waited. And waited some more.
Meanwhile, the first round of PPP funds were exhausted. Congress did replenish them before my application had even been reviewed.
Finally, almost two weeks later I received an update via email that my income documents could not be verified. I blamed myself for that because I had not completed my 2019 taxes, instead submitting other documents to verify income and payroll.
So I did my taxes and resubmitted the application with all the required information.
Then I read a very helpful piece from Stefan at Rapid Travel Chai. It started off bluntly:
“I was one of the self-deluded dupes who applied for first-round SBA Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) for my business through Chase.”
I quickly realized that I was placing far too much faith in Chase.
Stefan received funding through BlueVine. Going down the list of non-bank lenders, I completed six applications from institutions including:
- BlueVine
- Kabbage
- Lendistry
- OnDeck
- PayPal
- The Loan Source
Same-day, I was approved by Kabbage. I never heard back from BlueVine or The Loan Source, Lendistry wanted far more information than other lenders wanted, and PayPal denied me for reasons that remain unclear, despite using PayPal as my primary financial institution to collect payments for Award Expert (i.e. easily verifiable income).
I wanted to wait for Chase, but after a day took the Kabbage funding. It posted four days later.
Chase finally got back to me after I asked my banker to intervene…another denial.
Unable to verify average monthly payroll cost from information you provided.
Huh? Thankfully, Kabbage knew how to read my documents.
Good News: PPP Funds Still Remain
With schemers and large chains forced to return sizable amounts of money, PPP funding is still available. As of last week, there was still $120 billion available.
Don’t wait for large banks. Chase proved totally unreliable in what should have been a straightforward process.
CONCLUSION
It may seem odd to apply for PPP through predatory merchant cash advance (MCA) companies, but I was pleased by the ease and speed of Kabbage.
Did you receive PPP funding for your business? If so, through what institution?
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> Read More: Luxury Hotel Group Skims $59 Million From PPP While Firing Staff, Enriching CEO
@ Matthew — When you say you did your taxes, do you mean that you did them yourself? Surely you use an accountant?
Yes, I certainly use an accountant.
For a sole proprietorship, u only need to have your schedule C for 2019 done. I got my PPP money three days after I applied thru BlueVine.com after Smells Fargo blew me off.
Seems a Chase Private Banking relationship doesn’t get you much. Chase seems asleep at the wheel between the degrading value of UR partners and how they deal with their clients.
It is more complex then that. Because of the 2008 crisis a lot of big banks got large amounts of red tape and internal risk controllers. This in the current crisis leads them to be rather slow at helping to issue these loans as they still have to carry some risk.
This was very much seen in the first round of PPP. Smaller institutions disseminated much larger amounts of money then large lenders. Mostly based on the fact that large banks still had to do do diligent because of internal controls. While smaller banks and non-banks could ram the process thru and get more money as the system for some reason is first come first serve.
Chase Private client =/= Chase Private Banking. CPC is just branding and a regular chase account with almost no fees. If you negotiate with a regional bank and bring a few million in deposits, they’ll set you up with better services and a real interest rate. I was able to get a money market account for 1.5 APY as a part of a deal to bring deposits over so they’ll give me a better amortization schedule and IO for a deal.
Yes, I readily acknowledge I am just a small fish in the Chase pond.
The same happened to me where waiting for Chase did me no good and Kabbage approved me within one day.
I’m just a bit uncertain about their role/reliability in getting the loan forgiven as most of this is going to payroll.
I am using it for the same reason. Hopefully Kabbage will come through, but that was a risk I was willing to take.
Community lenders exist for many reasons, and I was busy when the first round hit; however, I knew that my bank would be quick to respond if I had my act together. I emailed to see what they would need, and I walked the four documents that they asked for over on April 14th about 2:30PM. At 3:30PM, they had an SBA tracking number and would fund my loan by the next Monday. I keep my personal and business checking account there, but I do not normally borrow money and had no outstanding loan; however, relationships are important. If you do not keep a relationship with a bank, this is a reason to have a relationship with a community bank. They invest in our communities, sponsor local events and little league teams, and will work to make sure their customers succeed. I suggest finding a community bank and opening a checking or savings account there instead of going the online route because you may need a personal relationship in the future. Those relationships still matter. And by the way, in my town, I know there were no less than three banks that I could have made the same request and had the same outcome.
Good data point. Thanks for your comment.
I applied with my local bank, Citizens. I’ve had a personal checking account wit them for 40 years, and 3 business accounts since 2005. I am by no means a major player, but the application was super short and easy. The email response said I would hear something within 72 hours. After I waited that amount of time (plus the weekend), I posted a message on Facebook using Messenger. I got an email the next day at 3pm, asking if i had heard anything, I gave them my business name, and at 5pm, he emailed back saying my application had been approved by Citizens and was at the SBA. Three days later, the money was in my account. I applied the Thursday before the 2nd round of PPP funding was approved, and had my money May 4. I looked into Kabbage and the others, but Citizens had a much faster and simpler application.
Congratulations on your free money paid for by taxpayers. I’m sure there’s nobody more needy than you.
Let me guess – you’re PO’d that Ruth’s Chris volunteered to give their money back? Because they’re capitulatin’ n stuff?
Let me guess: you’re a leftist drone that loves government handouts and AOC.
Let me guess (actually I know) – you’re the fool who advocates for ending the payroll tax at the moment, which literally no one (not even Moscow Mitch) believes is a good idea, as it’s been shown is regressive and doesn’t help the people who need it the most right now
The PPP recipients are probably somewhat high income would be my guess. If so, they will more than pay for it with their income taxes.
So just handing out money now creates wealth. Got it. Gosh, why didn’t somebody think of this before!
It’s a Democratic idea that your Agent Orange you worship has co-opted – surprise!
@WR2 If you received a stimulus check, I have to ask if you returned it?
$15,000 was created out of thin air PER CAPITA for every man, woman and child in this country. I suspect he only got his fair share while people not working are getting $4000 a month for not working. Can u blame him?
@WR: I don’t make the laws, I would not necessarily have voted for PPP, but I am certainly going to take advantage of it. Why shouldn’t I? Revenue is down in a huge, huge, way and this keeps mouths fed. Maybe Yang’s “freedom dividend” was the better idea?
Part of the PPP loan requires an attestation that the Covid 19 pandemic has negatively impacted the business and that the economic uncertainty makes the loan necessary to continue the business. It remains to be seen whether that will be enforced in any way. I honestly don’t know whether a travel blog is at risk of being shut down because of the economic uncertainty. But I also recognize that as long as there are loopholes and gray areas, not taking advantage of those means essentially subsidizing those who do. I personally did not apply for a loan despite having a legitimate side business because even if that business has zero income for an extended time, I could simply restart it when the income is available.
Arguably, the whole travel hacking game is kind of the same way, with other flyers and other credit card holders essentially subsidizing those who game the system by accepting lesser benefits as companies are forced to devalue programs.
Everyone has to make and live with their own decisions. I won’t criticize anyone from taking advantage of policies within the law, though I do feel for companies that lose out because others took the money they didn’t need.
I found a small bank in Virginia, took then 1 day to apply and 10 days to fund, and this is not much different than unemployed, but it’s a bit more money for those of us that made more. I wish they would have allowed 18 vs requiring people to fill out a schedule C subject to correction/change as trying to get them done in a day isn’t an option
I was lucky to have a community bank that was on it for their clients and came through for most of us on the first round, my company included. Throughout the country it was community banks and smaller lenders that saved the day.
Pretty easy to understand why. The larger banks like Chase, Bank America, Wells Fargo would focus on large clients that would be getting millions as the banks are getting 3%. They spent their time on the larger companies that were, in many cases, the ones who were the least in need. Remember that next time you choose a bank…go community bank always.
Our business applied through a local community bank that we do very little business with. We received approval and all I needed to do was sign the loan documentation, however, even with our business down 35%, we were still able to keep everyone employed and continue to be profitable so I didn’t sign it. That said, we had no issue getting approved and I suggest any business that truly needs it, take advantage of it. I just didn’t want to take from a business that truly needed it when we have been able to skate by. Sounds like this second round didn’t go as quick, so maybe I should have gone through with it. Hopefully business picks back up soon for us and other businesses and we can get cruising again
We bank at a small local bank. I am so impressed by our commercial lender, she was ready to go day 1 and made it happen. The bank was also able to process PPP loans for customers of other local banks that weren’t during PPP loans. The 5% fee to the processing bank was no doubt a great motivator.
A friend is the CEO of a different regional bank and he hired an outside company to approve and process applications because the demand was greater than they could process in house.
Big banks are for best for churning and burning for CC and bank bonuses.
CU and Community banks while often more conservative, yet often will go the extra mile. A local CU has said yes, when everyone else had said no.
Chase’s communication has been very good on this issue. You said that you applied after Congress authorized the second round, and that’s your problem. Chase processed applications in the order they were received, and since you applied so late, you were likely at the very end of the line. I applied hours after they started taking applications for the first round (about a week into the program, for Chase), but did not get funded for the first round. Chase kept all of those applications and reapplied them automatically. If you applied after the second round started, you were behind a lot of people.
Check again. I applied well before the first round of funding was exhausted. And even though my application was indeed “prioritized” when I re-applied, I still had to wait.