Wisconsin business owners have been approved for about $1.68 billion in forgivable loans through the second round of the federal Paycheck Protection Program.
The U.S. Small Business Administration began accepting applications last week Monday for the latest round of funding. In the first week, the U.S. SBA approved $175.7 billion through 2.2 million loans across the country.
Although experts predicted that funds would run out by Friday, just a little over half of the $310 billion in funds made available in the second round have been approved. The funds were approved by 5,432 lenders across the country.
For Wisconsin businesses, lenders approved $1.68 billion loans. Wisconsin lenders approved approximately $336 million in funds and 5,989 loans a day in the first week of the second funding round.
The overall average loan size was approximately $79,000, down from an average loan size of $206,000 during the first round of funding, according to a U.S. SBA report. The average loan size for businesses in Wisconsin during the first round was $191,674 and $56,094 in the second round.
Wisconsin ranked 24th across all U.S. states and territories for loans approved and 27th for total loan volume. A total of 578 approved loans for $48.5 million have yet to be confirmed or assigned to a U.S. state or territory, according to the report.
Funds disbursed through the PPP can be forgiven so long as 75% of the money is spent on payroll and the remainder is used for rent, utilities, and mortgage interest. However, the funds must be used in the eight weeks following the day the loan was disbursed.
The first round of PPP funding drew criticism after large companies, who were technically eligible for the program, received loans that were intended for small businesses. The SBA reported that some larger companies had returned PPP funding.
Efforts to curtail the amount of larger businesses receiving PPP funding have been successful after recent guidance that clarifies which businesses are eligible for the loans, U.S. SBA regional administrator Robert Scott previously told BizTimes.
During the first round of PPP, Wisconsin businesses were approved for $8.3 billion across 43,395 loans. A total of $349 billion was allocated for the first round of the PPP program over 14 days. A total of 5,000 lenders nationwide offered the PPP and approximately 1.6 million loans were approved nationally.
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