House Investigates Bank Procedures For PPP Loan Processing

A U.S. House panel is investigating if multiple banks gave preferential treatment to large, well-funded firms compared to companies in minority or isolated areas when making loans meant for providing COVID-19 relief, Bloomberg reported. In a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Jovita Carranza, several U.S. representatives said that some big lenders reportedly made a system with two levels to handle Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) applications. The letter said media reports indicated customers that had the most resources received access to a procedure that made sure their applications were handled first. In contrast, they wrote, “other applicants had to use poor-performing electronic portals, faced significant processing delays, and sometimes needed to find another lender to consider their application.”