NBC reported on Saturday that “Senior banking executives at Bank of America and Chase told NBC News they were still waiting on loan numbers to come back from the SBA, and so far had not processed any more than a trickle from the flood of applicants.”
The process itself is also presenting problems. Applicants must first go through their banks, which then forwards them through the SBA loan system. Unfortunately, many banks have reported issues accessing the portal and there isn’t a way to speed up the system yet.
The president of the union representing SBA workers said he’s been hearing about “issues” with E-Tran since Friday, according to reporting by Bloomburg. And because these loans are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, applicants who can’t get their loans processed because of technical issues may miss out on vital funding.
To combat this, President Trump announced today that he is trying to “supplement the money” available and is “in talks” to increase funding. And though he claims the SBA has processed $70 billion in loans, it’s still unclear when that money will be available.
