YANKTON, SD – Congress last week added another two hundred fifty billion dollars to the Paycheck Protection Plan for businesses. The Small Business Administration opened applications again yesterday (Monday) at 10:30. That website crashed about ten minutes later, but was restored later in the day.
Rob Stephenson, President and CEO of First Dakota National Bank based in Yankton, says the initial rules were aimed at businesses with employees.
“The guidelines were the clearest and applications were allowed from the start for companies with employees. So most of them got taken care of the first week or two of the program,” says Stephenson. “The SBA delayed taking applications from self-employed until April 10.”
He says they reached out to businesses that could qualify when the program was first announced.
“Prior to April 3 when the first applications were allowed, our folks were working with customers to help them as to what to expect, what will be needed and how it will work,” he shared.
Stephenson says it’s a hard time for a lot of businesses now.
“There a lot of people struggling with their business. When you don’t know what the rules are, it creates tension, that’s really high-stress,” he observed.
Stephenson says rules and regulations for the loan program are still being written with few clear guidelines.
