Austin, Texas, April 7, 2020 – Abrigo announced that community financial institution customers of its SBA Lending solution have handled nearly 15,000 loan applications through the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) since Friday. This number is expected to grow significantly this week; application volume is tracking to exceed $10 billion in loans to small businesses.
The SBA PPP launched Friday, April 3, making millions of small businesses and sole proprietors across the U.S. eligible to apply for PPP loans, and financial institutions were inundated with applicants hoping to participate in the $349 billion “first-come, first-served" program aimed at coronavirus relief. However, the PPP launch was met with numerous technical issues and confusion around eligibility. Many banks and credit unions scrambled to begin processing applications after new borrower and lender forms and SBA program guidance were issued late Thursday, just hours before the program launch.
Abrigo, which has provided SBA lenders with automated origination and integration with E-Tran, the SBA application portal, for 18 months through its Sageworks SBA Lending solution, rapidly updated the solution to capture the new forms and adjust to the new PPP guidelines. Abrigo also has dedicated advisory and implementation resources working around the clock to provide a streamlined integration so lenders can quickly implement the SBA solution and PPP processes.
As a result, customers leveraging the Sageworks SBA Lending solution have been able to simplify and automate the underwriting processes to manage the volume of requests so they can quickly get capital into the hands of small business owners through the PPP. Unlike many SBA software providers that say they are “connected” to E-Tran and have customers processing applications, financial institutions using Abrigo's E-Tran-integrated solution are getting loans completed and approved by the SBA.
