PPP loan borrowers under $150K get forgiveness through new portal

The Small Business Administration has created an online portal that allows for direct loan forgiveness for borrowers of up to $150,000.

Now, banks and businesses that opt in to participate have a one-stop online location for borrowers to apply for forgiveness within this SBA-driven site: directforgiveness.sba.gov.

Lenders can review the application and issue decisions within the same platform.

“The SBA’s new streamlined application portal will simplify forgiveness for millions of our smallest businesses — including many sole proprietors — who used funds from our Paycheck Protection Program loans to survive the pandemic,” SBA Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman said in a statement.

“The vast majority of businesses waiting for forgiveness have loans under $150,000. These entrepreneurs are busy running their businesses and are challenged by an overly complicated forgiveness process. We need to deliver forgiveness more efficiently so they can get back to enlivening our Main Streets, sustaining our neighborhoods, and fueling our nation’s economy,” she added.

Some PPP lenders are opting not to participate in this portal, particularly those who have already created their own.

PPP borrowers should check to see whether their lender opted in on this list provided by the SBA.

Since the opening of the Paycheck Protection Program Direct Borrower Forgiveness Portal on Aug. 4, the U.S. Small Business Administration has received more than 340,000 submissions from borrowers with PPP loans of $150,000 or less.

Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press A price sign is displayed at a retail store in Niles, Ill., in June. An online portal created by the Small Business Administration will allow borrowers to seek forgiveness of direct loans of $150,000 or less.