First things first. How do PPP loans get forgiven?
Loans are forgivable (they don’t need to be repaid) if a borrower meets certain requirements, such as using at least 60% of the loan for payroll costs. Given the average PPP loan amount is $59,000, forgiveness can be financially significant to a borrower.
Generally, lenders review a borrower’s application for loan forgiveness and submit their decision to the SBA, who then has 90 days to do its own review and send the forgiveness amount to the lender. The SBA Office of Inspector General recently found that the agency did not meet the 90-day requirement for 107,000 loans totaling $66.4 billion.
Who are the top 25 PPP lenders?
Well-known banks, like Bank of America and PNC Bank, make up 21 of them. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that banks made more than 93 percent of all loans in the initial round of the PPP.
The remaining four are considered non-bank lenders − like financial technology (“FinTech”) companies − that generally do not accept deposits but rather focus on lending through automated online platforms. The GAO found that PPP loans made by non-banks increased significantly in later phases of the program as part of the SBA’s effort to increase the availability of loans in underserved communities. Permitted by the CARES Act, the SBA brought in 800 new lenders to help increase lending to underserved communities.
What else is interesting about the top 25 lenders?
Seven of the top lenders participate in the new forgiveness portal. In August 2021, the SBA launched an online portal to simplify the loan forgiveness application. Borrowers with PPP loans of $150,000 or less could bypass their lender and use the portal to apply for forgiveness directly with the SBA. However, borrowers could only use the portal if their lender agreed to use it – and most lenders didn’t.
Is loan forgiveness consistent between the top lenders?
There’s some variation. For example, 89% of the PPP loans made by Comerica Bank have been forgiven and 57% of the loans made by Prestamos CFDI, LLC have been forgiven. Explore our data visualization below to see the variations in percentage of loan amounts forgiven, which lenders participate in the loan forgiveness portal, and the type of lender (bank vs non-bank).
Want more data on PPP lenders? You can start searching here. Our dashboard also lets you see all the details on PPP – like who got the loans, what they were used for, and how many jobs they reported retained. It’s the largest pandemic relief program. You deserve to know everything about it.
Note: The forgiveness rates for lenders are percentages based on the dollar amount of forgiven loans divided by the total dollar amount of loans approved.