MAINE, Maine — The Paycheck Protection Flexibility Act is now awaiting the President's signature after it passed the Senate unanimously Wednesday and the House 417-1 last week.
It's legislation to fix the Paycheck Protection Program by providing guidance for those with federal forgivable loans.
However, for those ready to start applying to get federal PPP loans forgiven, financial institutions are taking up an issue with the application.
"I’m a president of a bank and I sat down with my husband to go through the application with him and it took me a good part of an afternoon before I could even wrap my head around it," said Jeanne Hulit of Maine Community Bankcorp. Under President Barack Obama, Hulit serviced as the Acting Director for the U.S. Small Business Administration.
"The actual application for forgiveness is incredibly complex. For the larger business with a CFO, or a controller, or a CPA, or a consultant, that’s fine, but for our really small businesses the paperwork burden is enormous.”
The Maine Bankers' Association along with colleagues from other states, wrote a joint letter to the Treasury and Small Business Administration asking to simplify the application process.
The Paycheck Flexibility Act gives businesses more time to spend loan money, from eight-weeks to 24-weeks, and an extension to hire workers back, from June 30 to the end of the year.
“Businesses that have used the funds already and used it as directed in the original legislation, they should apply for their forgiveness as soon as banks are given guidance on how to process that application, which we have not received," said Hulit.
Maine Community Bankcorp issued 628 loans through the Paycheck Protection Program through the SBA for roughly $74 million between both rounds of funding, according to Hulit. In 12 days, 458 loans were dispersed to Maine small businesses.
Hulit says they are looking forward to opening up branches and helping customers navigate future loans in-person.