Banks rush to meet demand for payroll protection loans
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
As hundreds of McKenzie County businesses have rushed to their local financial institutions last week to submit their Paycheck Protection Program loan applications to help them keep their employees paid, the process has been far from simple or quick.
“On Friday, April 3, we were able to start submitting loan applications to the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) portal,” states Justin Voll, president of First International Bank & Trust in Watford City. “It took 4½ hours just to submit the first application initially.”
Voll says that part of the initial problem was that the SBA was constantly changing what financial information they required from the applicants and they hadn’t provided clarity on how the program worked.
But in spite of the initial slow start, Voll says that as of Thursday, April 9, the bank has had 100 applications for over $30 million in assistance approved by the SBA.
“We’ve had a lot of very appreciative customers,” states Voll of those area businesses that have had their loans approved.
But even though those loans have been approved by the SBA, Voll says that those businesses may have to wait a little bit before they receive the money.
“It’s in flux as to when businesses will start to receive their loan money,” states Voll. “The SBA wants the money out right away. And we’ll get it out as soon as we receive the SBA’s guidance.”
Two other Watford City financial institutions, Cornerstone Bank and Dakota West Credit Union, are also seeing a strong demand in loan requests.