If you are a business owner who received a Paycheck Protection Program loan of $150,000 or less, the U.S. Small Business Administration would like to make it easier to receive forgiveness for that loan.

The SBA is launching its PPP Direct Forgiveness portal to the public on Wednesday. The new change is meant to rush relief to more than 6.5 million “smallest of small businesses,” according a news release.

“This initiative will allow PPP borrowers to put their concerns of achieving full forgiveness behind them and focus on operating and growing their businesses again,” said Patrick Kelley, Associate Administrator for SBA’s Office of Capital Access. “We are pleased to be able to assist financial institutions across the U.S. in processing forgiveness applications for small business owners.”

More than 600 banks have opted in to direct forgiveness, enabling more than 2 million borrowers to apply through the portal. This represents about 30% of loans $150,000 or less that have not yet submitted for forgiveness.

But as pointed out by the inc.com article, there are nearly 5,500 lenders who participated in the PPP. Banks do have valid reasons for not participating, such as wanting to control the customer experience and having to manage their own systems while using the SBA portal. 

We will look into which local banks opt into the program.

For more information, visit https://directforgiveness.sba.gov.