PPP Forgiveness Series, Part 2: Borrower’s Responsibilities

Last week, the BBVA USA Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Forgiveness Series detailed the PPP lender’s responsibilities, which can be found here. The second part of the bank’s PPP forgiveness webinar provided an overview of the borrower’s responsibilities and this article highlights some of the borrower’s responsibilities.

The PPP allowed businesses with 500 or fewer employees to borrow money from lenders guaranteed by US Small Business Administration (“SBA”) to fund up to 2.5 times their average monthly payroll and other expenses, including mortgage interest payments, rent payments and utility payments. If the full time equivalent number of employees were retained throughout the covered period and certain other conditions are also met, businesses may be eligible to have their PPP loan balances forgiven.

For Part 2 of the series, below is a high-level breakdown of the borrower’s responsibilities throughout the PPP forgiveness process. Borrower responsibilities are not limited to the list provided.

To view the entirety of the webinar, including a detailed breakdown, click here:

1. Request: Borrowers need to submit a request to the lender that is servicing the loan, using a PPP loan forgiveness application.
2. Calculation: Accurate calculations regarding use of the loan must be provided to the lender that is servicing the loan. Businesses are required to have used at least sixty percent of the loan for eligible payroll expenses in order to be eligible for complete forgiveness.
3. Documentation: Documentation verifying the calculations must be provided, including verification of payroll costs, number of full-time equivalent (FTE) employees, pay rates, and bill payments such as mortgage, rent or utilities, among other items.
4. Attest: Borrowers must certify several statements in the loan application, including that documentation and calculations provided are true.

The information provided above is subject to change based on further congressional action, regulatory action or further guidance from the SBA or US Department of Treasury.

“We have to go by the rules of the program, but things are uncertain right now,” said BBVA USA Small- to Medium-Enterprises Network Executive Elizabeth Dobers. “Banks are here to help. We’re working with the SBA to follow their guidelines and make sure that these small businesses are the ones that benefit. I’d encourage people to watch the webinar, as it goes into further detail and answers many questions floating around right now. It’s 45 minutes, but it’s very informative and worth it.”