Surly Thread of Business Owners/Managers, Etc. & Current Business Climate

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12,301]

1 hour ago, Brew said:

Most of the large eligible businesses have been covered at this point which increases per business odds. The money basically lasted about 10 days after banks started getting apps processed. I think it probably goes faster this time as the banks know what they are doing now and they have still been taking apps all the way through.

Hopefully at this point you got it worked out with Chase to be in line for round 2 since you did get a rejection notice or you found a smaller bank.

now wait a minute, i was told it was first come first serve? you're suggesting banks would prioritize larger businesses to make more money? shame on you, sir.

we went with a smaller bank. they were incredibly responsive/helpful. unfortunately their app portal wasn't online until Tuesday AM. my local bank had their portal open on Sunday...every business owner I know that applied through my local bank got funded. 

holding out hope we got that money, with all of the uncertainty and the realization that everyday we kept staff put us in a bigger hole...it was absolutely brutal. even if we get the money, i have little desire to bring folks back into the fold knowing that we're likely looking at cutting staff again in 8 weeks. why put everybody through that again?

[pacman 7,365]

1 hour ago, Frieda’s Boss said:

Apparently our initial application was rejected for what our bank is telling us was a “330 error” which they can’t identify the cause of. Anyone else seen this and been able to determine the issue?  They say they are ready to resubmit in this 2nd wave but don’t know if it will just get rejected again. 

sounds like a web application error, not sure why the bank would call that a rejected application

would expect they just re-submit and hope it doesn't error out again

 

hope it works out for you

[Shaggy3.0 1,695]

sounds like a web application error, not sure why the bank would call that a rejected application
would expect they just re-submit and hope it doesn't error out again
 
hope it works out for you

[pacman 7,365]

56 minutes ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

now wait a minute, i was told it was first come first serve? you're suggesting banks would prioritize larger businesses to make more money? shame on you, sir.

we went with a smaller bank. they were incredibly responsive/helpful. unfortunately their app portal wasn't online until Tuesday AM. my local bank had their portal open on Sunday...every business owner I know that applied through my local bank got funded. 

holding out hope we got that money, with all of the uncertainty and the realization that everyday we kept staff put us in a bigger hole...it was absolutely brutal. even if we get the money, i have little desire to bring folks back into the fold knowing that we're likely looking at cutting staff again in 8 weeks. why put everybody through that again?

family member works at a small bank in small town Texas.

 

she processed and funded $10 million just by herself, processed by order of submittal

 

they are ramping up hard for the second round

 

its annectdotal but, for the most part, the small banks seem to be getting it done

[Cheeseweasel 26,438]

30 minutes ago, pacman said:

its annectdotal but, for the most part, the small banks seem to be getting it done

Because small banks don't have 8 layers of "VP's" telling them to prioritize this one or that one and interrupting the work.

[Atxracer 797]

I submitted mine through Frost.  They then managed to come back with a million questions even though they have all the information on my accounts.  I am in the business of malpractice insurance for healthcare and am slammed with questions so didn't have time to respond so looks like I missed out on the deal for now.  The good part is, I don't think/at least hope, we will need it.  When/if the second round comes around, I will drop everything to apply just to be safe.

[Brew 3,049]

1 hour ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

now wait a minute, i was told it was first come first serve? you're suggesting banks would prioritize larger businesses to make more money? shame on you, sir.

I’m not suggesting they prioritized these loans to make more money on these particular loans. The banks we deal with prioritized the loans they did based on their relationships with the clients. I know several that turned large loans away because they didn’t have preexisting relationships and knew it was a one time deal and just didn’t want to mess with it. Most bankers I know viewed this as a complete hassle they did for client relationship purposes. Those banks also weren’t auto processing 10k loans either.

[sunset87 248]

This has probably already been discussed but, our business has received the PPP funding through a small bank. I guess you have to use all of the money in 8 weeks and return what is not used. 
 

So if we were allowed to use the money for as long as possible, we could have cut or employees salaries by 25% and covered our losses for maybe 4 or 5 months with the loan money. 
 

Instead we are going to pay full salaries for 8 weeks. Otherwise we leave money on the table that we couldn’t use.

The loan would have been much more beneficial and efficient if we could spread it out over time. Because this thing is going to last a lot longer than 8 weeks.

Edited April 22, 2020 by sunset87

[Cheeseweasel 26,438]

12 minutes ago, sunset87 said:

This has probably already been discussed but, our business has received the PPP funding through a small bank. I guess you have to use all of the money in 8 weeks and return what is not used. 
 

So if we were allowed to use the money for as long as possible, we could have cut or employees salaries by 25% and covered our losses for maybe 4 or 5 months with the loan money. 
 

Instead we are going to pay full salaries for 8 weeks. Otherwise we leave money on the table that we couldn’t use.

The loan would have been much more beneficial and efficient if we could spread it out over time. Because this thing is going to last a lot longer than 8 weeks.

True, but I think they assumed it would be over faster. Maybe there is a "plan B".

[ousuxndallas 65]

This has probably already been discussed but, our business has received the PPP funding through a small bank. I guess you have to use all of the money in 8 weeks and return what is not used. 
 
So if we were allowed to use the money for as long as possible, we could have cut or employees salaries by 25% and covered our losses for maybe 4 or 5 months with the loan money. 
 
Instead we are going to pay full salaries for 8 weeks. Otherwise we leave money on the table that we couldn’t use.
The loan would have been much more beneficial and efficient if we could spread it out over time. Because this thing is going to last a lot longer than 8 weeks.

So the PPP is working as designed. The goal was to keep small business employees working for 2 months, until (presumably) the COVID crisis ended.

All of my clients that applied received funding. But I was pushing them hard to get their application in early. I helped them assemble the info needed and answered all bank questions in a timely manner.

Next round should help those that dragged their feet, or were stepped over by their bank. Now is the time to get away from crappy, large banks and with with someone local.

[VABuckeye 2,472]

Had  a meeting with the electrical contractor we are subbing for at the National Gallery of Art.  NGA is shut down currently but they said that 90% of their current projects are still up and running.  I'm guessing most of those are construction projects because overall those still seem to be moving along.

[pacman 7,365]

Certainly an interesting part of this first round of funding, allowing construction businesses to participate when they are operating at normal capacity for the most part.

[Bevo 13,590]

17 minutes ago, pacman said:

Certainly an interesting part of this first round of funding, allowing construction businesses to participate when they are operating at normal capacity for the most part.

Yeah, that stuff kind of pisses me off when medical has mostly been shut down.

[deadshank 24,653]

23 minutes ago, pacman said:

Certainly an interesting part of this first round of funding, allowing construction businesses to participate when they are operating at normal capacity for the most part.

All construction contractors are 30 days away from bankruptcy.

[G650 14,272]

Just now, deadshank said:

All construction contractors are 30 days away from bankruptcy.

Accurate

[VABuckeye 2,472]

4 minutes ago, Bevo said:

Yeah, that stuff kind of pisses me off when medical has mostly been shut down.

Those industries aren't getting the big checks that HHS handed out on top of PPP loans so I'm not feeling that badly for ALL of the medical community.

We've been lucky to remain fairly busy but this has created a hole in our business for sure and as we've discussed on the last pages receivables aren't exactly flowing in.

[Chewbacca 7,780]

35 minutes ago, deadshank said:

All construction contractors are 30 days away from bankruptcy.

But unlike many industries, construction is still allowed to work.  We're running at about 10% right now since most of what we do is shut down.

[Cheeseweasel 26,438]

1 hour ago, pacman said:

Certainly an interesting part of this first round of funding, allowing construction businesses to participate when they are operating at normal capacity for the most part.

IMNSHO, the loans should have been granted, but "forgiveness" should be means tested (IE: show what you last 60 days or comparative period yielded and if you are off 60%, you get forgiven 60% of your loan). 

[sunset87 248]

1 hour ago, ousuxndallas said:

So the PPP is working as designed. The goal was to keep small business employees working for 2 months, until (presumably) the COVID crisis ended.

All of my clients that applied received funding. But I was pushing them hard to get their application in early. I helped them assemble the info needed and answered all bank questions in a timely manner.

Next round should help those that dragged their feet, or were stepped over by their bank. Now is the time to get away from crappy, large banks and with with someone local.

Yeah I get that, but I don’t see the harm in having a longer term for use. Like 6 months or a year. It’s fine if they want to tie the funding to a two month pay period, but some latitude on when and how you use it seems to make a lot more sense.

All that being said, I’m thankful and feel somewhat lucky we got funded.

[Spaulding Smails 1,555]

1 hour ago, deadshank said:

All construction contractors are 30 days away from bankruptcy.

Yup.  Or one big customer going tits up.

[G650 14,272]

So what the gossip on how fast the SBA will get the portal open once the House votes?

[BearSchlong 8,104]

6 hours ago, Cheeseweasel said:

Shit's borked.

Yep.  I'm the Treasurer on the Executive Board of a 503c nonprofit, applied for PPP on 4/7 through Community Bank of Texas/Lendio, worked via chat with a guy who verified our information, IRS forms, payroll records, said everything was good.

Crickets

Contacted them yesterday, no more money, oh by the way i need to go docusign this again. . .

Just stupid.

Previous treasurer confirmed a similar story with his law firm's application.

At this point I almost think the PPP was a complete and utter hoax.  Good for you that got funded.  We SHOULD probably be ok anyway as we have been doing a good job putting money away for the last few years.

Edited April 22, 2020 by BearSchlong

[VABuckeye 2,472]

Yes.  We were funded last Tuesday.  MaclovioBrown is a friend for life.

On the flip side I think the EIDL Grant and loan was a hoax.  We had credit pulled last week and nada.  I can log in to the site but there's no information there other than hey you.

Edited April 22, 2020 by VABuckeye

[riloh05 107]

ERC continues to be a viable option for those who were not able to hop on the PPP train. Also, some who took the PPP, but found about ERC after the fact are kicking their own ass.

If you are under 100 employees and have hourly employees/lower salary population- ERC is awesome. If you are over 100 employees, but are paying folks not to work ERC is an option, but PPP is usually the goto here. 10k+ employees have found some good maximization of the ERC credit as well. Let me know if any one has any ERC questions- here to help.

[Brew 3,049]

27 minutes ago, sunset87 said:

Yeah I get that, but I don’t see the harm in having a longer term for use. Like 6 months or a year. It’s fine if they want to tie the funding to a two month pay period, but some latitude on when and how you use it seems to make a lot more sense.

All that being said, I’m thankful and feel somewhat lucky we got funded.

The goal wasn’t to keep you funded, the goal was to keep your employees off of unemployment and fully employed during what they expected to be an 8 week problem cycle. There were other loan products available for operating needs with longer term payback periods.

[4th and 5 4,915]

4 hours ago, pacman said:

family member works at a small bank in small town Texas.

 

she processed and funded $10 million just by herself, processed by order of submittal

 

they are ramping up hard for the second round

 

its annectdotal but, for the most part, the small banks seem to be getting it done

Small banks @MaclovioBrownand @cabowabo are getting it done! I can't thank these guys enough.

[VABuckeye 2,472]

They're the heroes we needed and didn't deserve.

[sunset87 248]

Forgot quote see below

Edited April 22, 2020 by sunset87

[sunset87 248]

18 minutes ago, Brew said:

The goal wasn’t to keep you funded, the goal was to keep your employees off of unemployment and fully employed during what they expected to be an 8 week problem cycle. There were other loan products available for operating needs with longer term payback periods.

Admittedly, I am not as well versed as others in my company on what other options we had for loan products.

The better ability we have to minimize our losses the better chance we have to keep our employees.

Again, happy to have help and we don’t plan on letting anyone go, unless this drags on for quite a while. Which would probably mean we’re done anyway. Just pointing out it would be nice to have some options.

[T’Boo Ted Marshall 2,738]

ERC continues to be a viable option for those who were not able to hop on the PPP train. Also, some who took the PPP, but found about ERC after the fact are kicking their own ass.
If you are under 100 employees and have hourly employees/lower salary population- ERC is awesome. If you are over 100 employees, but are paying folks not to work ERC is an option, but PPP is usually the goto here. 10k+ employees have found some good maximization of the ERC credit as well. Let me know if any one has any ERC questions- here to help.

FIL runs a good sized construction outfit here in Dallas and is stubborn as the day is long. Had around 65 employees and laid off around 50%. He applied for PPP but I’m not sure he was funded.
Could he go the ERC route if he did receive PPP funds?

[riloh05 107]

3 minutes ago, T’Boo Ted Marshall said:

FIL runs a good sized construction outfit here in Dallas and is stubborn as the day is long. Had around 65 employees and laid off around 50%. He applied for PPP but I’m not sure he was funded.
Could he go the ERC route if he did receive PPP funds?

It is one or the other.

You can apply for PPP and see what the ERC will do...If he were to take ERC, PPP would be off the table. If he were to take PPP, ERC is off the table.

covid19.hiretech.com this is our analyzer that will compare the 2 options without any commitment.

[G650 14,272]

22 minutes ago, VABuckeye said:

They're the heroes we needed and didn't deserve.

For real.

[orange dream 1,254]

23 minutes ago, VABuckeye said:

They're the heroes we needed and didn't deserve.

which says alot about us, almost none of it flattering

[cabowabo 4,492]

2 hours ago, VABuckeye said:

They're the heroes we needed and didn't deserve.

That's a very nice thing to say, but we are certainly not heroes.  In fact, we're as morally bankrupt as the rest of you degenerates.

[troph 24,893]

still dealing with PPP but not as much.  hesitating on round two, that first round was a beat down, but will likely send another client update out tomorrow for it.

moving into business interruption claims next, partnering with some firms that I have no business being spoken of in the same sentence to pursue them.  deep pockets.  maybe I'll get to fly on a private jet some for these cases.  

[Incredulity 11,680]

1 hour ago, troph said:

still dealing with PPP but not as much.  hesitating on round two, that first round was a beat down, but will likely send another client update out tomorrow for it.

moving into business interruption claims next, partnering with some firms that I have no business being spoken of in the same sentence to pursue them.  deep pockets.  maybe I'll get to fly on a private jet some for these cases.  

Subscribed.

[VABuckeye 2,472]

2 hours ago, cabowabo said:

That's a very nice thing to say, but we are certainly not heroes.  In fact, we're as morally bankrupt as the rest of you degenerates.

Well thank you anyway and apparently you’re committed to taking me on some kind of night hunting.  I’d rather just hang out in Cabo. 

[Brew 3,049]

4 minutes ago, VABuckeye said:

Well thank you anyway and apparently you’re committed to taking me on some kind of night hunting.  I’d rather just hang out in Cabo. 

I watched Lone Star Law, be careful of the deer and turkeys that just rotate their heads at funny angles while you’re riding around with a spot light and a 12 pack. They are no bueno.

[Lat22 4,015]

38 minutes ago, Brew said:

I watched Lone Star Law, be careful of the deer and turkeys that just rotate their heads at funny angles while you’re riding around with a spot light and a 12 pack. They are no bueno.

We got night vision and thermal. We haven’t opened up at eyeballs only in over 20 years. Wait....we never did. 

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12,301]

6 hours ago, riloh05 said:

6 hours ago, riloh05 said:

ERC continues to be a viable option for those who were not able to hop on the PPP train. Also, some who took the PPP, but found about ERC after the fact are kicking their own ass.

If you are under 100 employees and have hourly employees/lower salary population- ERC is awesome. If you are over 100 employees, but are paying folks not to work ERC is an option, but PPP is usually the goto here. 10k+ employees have found some good maximization of the ERC credit as well. Let me know if any one has any ERC questions- here to help.

What is ERC?

[Brew 3,049]

8 minutes ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

What is ERC?

Employee retention credit, credit of 50% of wages per employee up to $10k for each employee in a quarter if your business is closed due to orders or revenue falls below 50% of a comparable quarter. There are a number of stipulations but that is the genesis of it. We had very few clients outside of restaraunts that met revenue stipulation at this point and they all decided to lay off employees so it didn’t help much. You can’t take it and PPP.

Edited April 23, 2020 by Brew

[Incredulity 11,680]

13 hours ago, Jhawk said:

I made a call to chase several weeks ago regarding some basic account management and to void a check.  My business banker referred me to a hotline and said "I'm not supposed to be directly helping anyone anymore, we're going to a call in model."  This gal and I already have a sordid past with me trying to get her off her ass to help me so I just let loose and told her that she should quit her career in banking because her customer service is terrible and that I'll never call her again for anything.  As far as I'm concerned, next time I have to call chase I am asking to be reassigned to a different contact.  Even if the new contacts makes zero dollars off me and has the same restrictions, I want our banker to know that she was fired.  Fuck chase.

Idiots selling commodity products, like banking services, who can’t figure out that they should be more customer advocates versus company hatchet men never cease to amaze me.

[Telegraph_it 3,358]

Small business banks are the way to go. I’m a small investor in one and almost every client who applied was processed. The bank did about $200 million in loans for the first tranche and its expected to double this round. 
 

The portal is a go for tomorrow so we will see. 

Edited April 23, 2020 by Telegraph_it
Words

[orange dream 1,254]

new guidance / clarification of small business definitions and PPP criteria.

https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/Paycheck-Protection-Program-Frequently-Asked-Questions.pdf

[Lobwedgephil 1,139]

Anyone have contact Information for a bank accepting new PPP loans? We got screwed round one from WF and would like to have it in asap. Quitting WF after all of this as well. 

[VABuckeye 2,472]

PM squishmittens, MaclovioBrown or cabowabo.  One of them may be able to help.

[VABuckeye 2,472]

Best of luck to all of you in line for funding in the next round.  I hope you all get your SBA loan numbers tomorrow so you can rest easy this weekend.

[Tailgate 3,022]

1 hour ago, Lobwedgephil said:

Anyone have contact Information for a bank accepting new PPP loans? We got screwed round one from WF and would like to have it in asap. Quitting WF after all of this as well. 

Are you in Texas? We’ve had a great relationship with Frost for our business for over 20 years. They’ve been sending emails on it and seem to be proactive. 

[Incredulity 11,680]

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/22/she-got-a-paycheck-protection-loan-her-employees-hate-her-for-it.html

Quote

When Black-Lewis convened a virtual employee meeting to explain her good fortune, she expected jubilation and relief that paychecks would resume in full even though the staff — primarily hourly employees — couldn’t work.

She got a different reaction.  

“It was a firestorm of hatred about the situation,” Black-Lewis said.

Quote

The anger came from employees who’d determined they’d make more money by collecting unemployment benefits than their normal paychecks.

 

“It’s a windfall they see coming,” Black-Lewis said of unemployment. “In their mind, I took it away.”

“I couldn’t believe it,” she added. “On what planet am I competing with unemployment?”

 

[VABuckeye 2,472]

Will they still be angry when their unemployment payment drops dramatically after 17 weeks and they don't have a job to go back to anymore?