by Sara S
Anybody out there in quarantine feel like they’re in “Groundhog Day”? Just repeating the same ol’ day again and again? We get up, eat breakfast, do school, cry about school, eat lunch, play, work, eat dinner, eat too many treats, take a walk, and then crash. And do all the same the next day. Rinse and repeat.
But really I think it’s because COVID-19 has us all waiting. Waiting for the economy to reopen, the pandemic to pass, the curve to flatten, the kids to stop bickering. So much waiting!
Close Call for a Small Business Loan
One thing that has us wringing our hands and not-so-patiently waiting, is standing by to hear about our Small Business Loan to help us get by while our business has to be closed.
Get this craziness:
We’re trying to participate in the Paycheck Protection Program from the U.S. Small Business Administration. This is loan for small businesses that helps keep their workers on payroll. SBA will forgive these loans if we only use this loan for payroll, rent, mortgage interest, and utilities.
To do this, you have to apply with your local bank to try to get the loan. As things have been rolling out, my husband has been working closely with our rep at the bank to know what to do.
About two weeks ago this rep let me husband know we needed to have all our paperwork together so we could apply on Monday, April 6. So he gathered everything and had it all set. But that Monday, our bank’s site crashed and the SBA site had problems. It was a bit of a fiasco.
We kept getting updates from our rep, and by Tuesday morning we still weren’t able to apply. My husband was out on a bike ride when he got the call—the site was up and ready. He booked it home, came in huffing and puffing, and applied as quick as he could.
So by Tuesday afternoon we had officially applied. But we heard that they got so many applications, that they had to stop accepting them by Wednesday at noon! Small business owners like us were turned away because they didn’t get it in immediately, and we can’t even process how they must be feeling. Ugh.
So it’s been over a week, and we still don’t even know if we were approved. But we feel lucky we got to try!
Me feeling totally normal on a grocery trip
Some of the Waiting is Over
But lest I whine too much, we have had some good news:
– Our stimulus checks arrived this week! $2,900 to help us make ends meet.
– Our tax refund arrived last week, and it was more than we were expecting. We feel unbelievably grateful.
– We officially know the kids won’t be going back to school. It’s not good news really—my kids are so sad!—but at least we can stop wondering and worrying about it.
I know we’re all in this COVID-19 waiting game together, and I know I’m not the only one feeling SO. OVER. IT. So let’s just keep stumbling through, smiling behind our masks and forgetting what day it is.
I think the government is talking about adding to the SBA PPP fund so you might get it in the end. I applied for my church on April 6 also, submitted the documents a day or two later and have never been approved. I hope that we get it as I think we are going to need it.
Best of luck to you. The waiting game is stressful!
Congrats on getting in your application for the PPP! That’s a feat! Crossing my fingers for you!
We just read that large companies received a higher number (not higher $ amount) of PPP loans (I’m sure because it was easier to give a lot to a few companies instead of not much to many small companies). My husband found this.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1240004047454814212