The U.S. government's $350 billion small-business rescue program was plagued by paperwork and technical issues as it lurched to the end of a fourth day on Monday, with some banks experiencing major glitches with the processing system, according to industry groups, bankers and an email seen by Reuters.
WASHINGTON - The U.S. government’s $350 billion small-business rescue program was plagued by paperwork and technical issues as it lurched to the end of a fourth day on Monday, with some banks experiencing major glitches with the processing system, according to industry groups, bankers and an email seen by Reuters.
Three banking officials told Reuters U.S. lenders were unable to process loan applications for hours on Monday after the SBA’s online portal crashed around midday. A senior administration official denied the SBA system had crashed, and said the agency continued to process loans and add lenders. Many lenders have had problems signing up for new user accounts with the SBA’s platform, while bankers who already had accounts have had issues unlocking them or resetting passwords, the email said. It said the SBA was working to unlock all of the existing user accounts in one batch.
Community bankers also took to social media to complain, rebutting claims by President Donald Trump, whose administration had promised the loans would be distributed in just days, that all was going well. A senior Trump administration official on Monday defended the progress made and said launching such a huge program in just one week was unprecedented.
It was unclear how much of that $35 billion had been dished out to businesses as of Monday since the banks are the ones who disburse the funds. According to two industry sources, paperwork problems have prevented all but a fraction of banks from distributing the funds.
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