Understanding the Paycheck Protection Program
What is the Paycheck Protection Program?
During the coronavirus pandemic, the US government passed the CARES Act to help small businesses stay on their feet. One portion of this, the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, offers small business loans that are intended to cover up to eight weeks of payroll costs. They initially included the possibility of loan forgiveness if the employers keep their employees and continue to pay payroll. This program is only available for businesses with 500 employees or fewer.
OOIDA has stated that owner-operators and small carrier owners should qualify for this funding. The key is to get your application into your bank in a timely manner.
The Paycheck Protection Program Application
The PPP application runs through banks that then get their funding routed through the Small Business Administration. We have included the application for First National Bank below as an example. If you are an owner-operator or fleet owner and you bank with First National, feel free to use this form. If you use another bank, make sure you contact them and ask if they are an SBA approved bank. You will also want to get their unique form.
At this point, our information states that loans will not be forgiven, you will need to repay the entire amount in two years. However, it is a very low interest rate of only 1% at this time.
First National Bank of Sioux Falls Resources
If you have specific questions on this, please call or email Shelley, just know that she is fielding a lot of questions, so she may need to call you back at a later time.