The general feeling among North Bay banks is that there will be fewer applications overall for the second draw of federal Paycheck Protection Program economic relief loans, the application period which opened this week. But they said some notable exceptions likely will be in the hospitality, hotel and restaurant sectors, which have been hard-hit by business restrictions over the past 11 months intended to slow the coronavirus pandemic.

On Monday, President Joe Biden announced additional changes to the second draw of the Paycheck Protection Program, opening a 14-day window allowing businesses and nonprofits of fewer than 20 employees to exclusively apply.

This two-week window opened on Wednesday and closes Tuesday, March 9, at 2 p.m. Pacific Time. (See details below on the new loans.)

Michael Sullivan, executive vice president and chief credit officer for Exchange Bank, said a majority of applications being seen today are first round borrowers coming back.

“We are also seeing a number of small dollar loan requests — some as low as $1,000 — from independent contractors, sole proprietors and small mom-and-pop businesses,” he said. “In the first round, some 76% of loan requests were under $150,000 and 48% were under $50,000.”

Sullivan estimated that some 1,000 applications could be submitted for the Second Draw, down from 1,800 in the first draw in 2020. Significant rule changes now apply that were not included in the first round.

The Santa Rosa-based bank has increased its use of social media and its website to reach out to these groups and increase participation. Minority and underserved business entities are among the high volume of small firms applying, Sullivan said.

“This is a virtual process with application forms obtained and submitted to us on line,” he said. “When borrowers send us their completed loan applications, a team of 20 experts reviews their documents, checks for errors or inconsistencies and sometimes asks for more information before sending them to the SBA.”

The bank is processing SBA applications in the order received, Sulivan said. Once lending officers review documents and the borrower signs the application, the SBA takes 24 to 48 hours to process applications and assign a loan number indicating that funding has been allocated. We then forward loan documents to the customer, usually within the same day. The receipt of funds can take a little longer.

Exchange Bank received hundreds of applications initially in round 1 and from 10 to 20 applications per day in round 2, Sullivan said.

Originally published on Northbay Business Journal ©. Read full story here.