CUNA joined other financial services organizations Friday to call on House and Senate Small Business Committee leadership to urge the Small Busines Administration to make every effort to clear the thousands of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan holds. The organizations also requested that any PPP loan application submitted by the March 31 deadline be eligible for SBA approval.

“With the approaching authorization expiration date of March 31, 2021, we have serious concerns that many of these loans currently tagged with a hold code will remain outstanding through this date,” the letter reads. “We also have concerns that new loans uploaded to SBA’s portal this month will be outstanding when the portal shuts down. As a result, those businesses that should have been eligible to receive PPP funds – including those in hardest hit communities who may not have taken advantage of PPP last year – will be locked out and unable to access this much needed emergency capital.”

The organizations note that thousands of small business have filed, or intend to file, applications to the PPP, and “they should be given the opportunity to receive these funds through the full program authorization period.”