SBA Provides for Direct Forgiveness of PPP Loans

SBA Provides for Direct Forgiveness of PPP Loans

(July 30, 2021)

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced this week that they are making available a new “PPP Direct Forgiveness Portal” to will allow borrowers with Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans of $150,000 or less to apply for forgiveness directly with the SBA, rather than going through the lender from which they received the loan.

The new portal will be available beginning Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021. The portal can be accessed at https://directforgiveness.sba.gov.

To be able to use this new portal, the bank from which you received the PPP loan must opt in to the direct forgiveness program with the SBA. As of now, more than 600 banks have already chosen to participate in this program, covering more than 2 million PPP borrowers.

The new SBA forgiveness portal will coordinate your forgiveness application with your local bank and is expected to expedite the process of borrowers receiving forgiveness. If your church received a PPP loan and you have not already sought forgiveness through your local lender, you should try to use the portal from the SBA before going to your lender's portal. Assuming that your lender has opted into this direct process, your forgiveness application will be greatly expedited.

Expect some delays when accessing this new forgiveness portal site. However, it should be much more expedient than the current process of going through your local lender.