![]() ![]() I wrote earlier about how the high processing fees for PPP loans often encouraged lenders and their agents to push through applications. In fact, the SBA was approving applications in batches, barely even looking over the information. They noted that the CARES act itself removed some of the fraud prevention controls in order to allow faster processing. The Project on Government Oversight had a very in depth article about the overal fraud problem. Imagine if they had to actually verify documents. Lenders, the SBA and even the IRS are overwhelmed by the volume of applications. Lenders will be permitted to rely on certifications of the PPP borrower to determine the borrower’s eligibility and use of loan proceeds SBA Interim Final Rule on processing of PPP loans, January 6, 2021 To make things go faster, the SBA gave lenders a lot of wiggle room. The banks that were processing the loans couldn't handle all the applications either. ![]() The Federal government doesn't have the capacity to do all the verification that's needed for 10 million applications in such a short period of time. Cramming in as many funded applications as possible.īy late April, nearly 10 million PPP loans had gone out. It's not the multimillion dollar stuff you read about in the news, but it's fraud all the same. I think there's an explosion of people making up numbers so they can get approved. When you get all that talk of free money, people get desperate for that money. I think some of that was increased by the generous referral programs being offered by companies like Womply. There's been a feeding frenzy of sorts, with a lot of people looking at the PPP as free money. I say this from my observations in driver forums and Facebook groups. However, I think the problem goes beyond that. I think it took some time, but scammers eventually figured out they could do the same thing with the PPP Program. That opened the door to large scale identity theft and fraudulent unemployment claims. The system was so overwhelmed with applicants, it was like all they could do was just approve applicants. It's already been a huge problem with unemployment. ![]() If it's easier to get the money, it's easier to commit fraud. They tried to streamline the process and speed things up.īut here's the thing when you streamline things like this. They didn't want the process to get bogged down too much. The thing is, Congress wanted to get money out to people who need it as quickly as possible. The CARES Act, in response to the pandemic, created the Paycheck Protection Program as a means to help small businesses (including sole proprietors) keep paying its people when the economy ground to a halt during the shutdowns. I think the problem here is, the US Government is a victim of their own desire to quickly get ppp funds in the hands of people who really need it.
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