AFSA Voices Support for PPP Expansion
The American Financial Services Association (AFSA) today submitted a comment letter to Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Chairman Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Ranking Member Ben Cardin (D-MD) regarding expanding access to the Payment Protection Program (PPP).
The letter is in response to a planned committee hearing entitled “Title I of the CARES Act” and requests “that the Small Business Administration (SBA) clarify that finance companies with fewer than 500 employees are indeed eligible for PPP loans and loan forgiveness, as intended by the CARES Act.”
AFSA notes that Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) deemed financial services a critical part of infrastructure. The Department of the Treasury also deemed financial services businesses essential. Moreover, Congress clearly intended to include financial services businesses in the PPP, but the Small Business Administration took a narrower view.
That narrower view has “result[ed] in some SBA lenders questioning the eligibility of vital businesses such as installment lenders and vehicle finance companies,” Ann Harter, AFSA’s Vice President of Congressional Affairs wrote. “AFSA respectfully requests that your committee clearly reiterate that finance companies are eligible for PPP loans and loan forgiveness in further pandemic stimulus bills.”
June 8th, 2020
