Oriental opens website for PPP loan forgiveness application process
Puerto Rican financial institution Oriental announced this week it will open a website for clients who received a loan through the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Payroll Protection Program to request forgiveness of all or part of their loan.
The client must comply with the guidelines from the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the SBA.
“As with the PPP loan application process, we have created an end-to-end digital process for our clients to apply for possible loan forgiveness under this SBA program,” said Ganesh Kumar, Chief Operating Officer at Oriental. “It’s a fully digital application that allows customers to self-serve in an easy and convenient way, 24/7.”
Through the site, clients will be able to process their application from beginning to end, including uploading all required documents, certifying them, and digitally signing them for submission. Then they will receive updates and the decision through the same website.
Based on SBA guidelines and requirements, there is a possibility of 100% forgiveness. These requirements primarily include that the PPP loan recipient used the borrowed funds to cover eligible expenses for the eligible amount.
The client will have up to 10 months after the end of the covered period to request the loan forgiveness. They must apply after the covered period ends, meet the potential criteria of the Safe Harbor Regulations and the necessary documentation available to submit it, the official said.
“Because the SBA launched a new application process for the forgiveness of loans with balances of $50,000 or less, right now, the website won’t be available to those clients. We’re working on a new forgiveness application process for them,” Kumar said.
Throughout all of the PPP funding rounds, Oriental provided more than $300 million in loans to small and medium-sized businesses, reaching nearly 5,000 businesses and 63,000 employees of those businesses in Puerto Rico.
