May 1, 2020—At least 220 public companies applied for a combined $870 million from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and so far, only 13 companies have returned the money, reported the Observer. The numbers come from a report from the Washington D.C.-based data analytics firm FactSquared.
The Paycheck Protection Program is a $350 billion rescue package under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
According to the report, in theory, the PPP has a $10 million limit to each loan applicant. But some borrowers were able to well exceed that cap by filing multiple applications across subsidiaries as long as each operates as a separate legal entity and employs fewer than 500 people.
Last Thursday, the Small Business Administration issued guidelines urging companies that received the loans to give the money back. Under the pressure, the 13 companies have returned approximately $98 million.
Recently, the Small Business Administration released a statement on the PPP program to inform business that the SBA only accepted loans from lending institutions with asset sizes less than $1 billion between 4 p.m. and 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on April 29 in order to ensure special access to the PPP loan program for the smallest lenders and their small business customers.
