The purpose of this petition is to help business owners obtain the funding that they need. Small companies are the lifeblood of the economy and, as such, serve as its backbone.  In addition, this petition is to obtain sufficient signatures to be sent to the U.S. Senate and or Congress in an effort to continue funding the EIDL applications by the SBA which are in process, to include approved increases, reconsideration, and or appeals.  This includes businesses who were just pending a 4506 verification or pending a contract to obtain funding, who were not able to obtain funding because funds were exhausted.  Currently, the amount of businesses left without additional funding is unknown.  There may be 100,000 to 500,000 businesses in this limbo. 

Also, if you are not a business owner every service or product you buy is delivered by a small or medium size business from your local restaurant, to the barber shop, to the laundromat, to your local grocery store. While you may not own a business, your support counts in this petition.  Any business owner whether you did or did not obtain EIDL funding, your support counts. Small and mid size businesses make up Small businesses make up over 99.7% of U.S. employer firms, 64% of net new private-sector jobs and 42.9% of private-sector payroll. Over half of America's workers own or work for a Small Business.

The U.S. Small Business Administration that on December 31st of 2021 it would no longer receive new applications.  However, that existing reconsideration files, appeals and increases would continue until the funds would be exhausted.  It is clear that the SBA mentions over and over until funds are exhausted.  However, there is lack of appropriate fund management, adequate staffing and processes. 

As a business consultant, advisor and preparer of SBA EIDL loan applications and documentation, there were many flaws in the system in how the information was processed.  I, Gil Zapata founder of a fintech company Lendinero and having worked in the financial services industry since 1996 found many inefficiencies in the processing of these files that would evidently cause major delays for an applicant.  I have been working with businesses since 1996 in different areas of financial services. Since 2013, via our fintech platform we have been providing alternative financing and traditional financing to business owners across the nation. Furthermore, we provide business advisory and other services to businesses across the nation in other areas.  This is not to brag, but I consider myself an expert in small business management and administration. 

While the SBA did the best they could to manage the influx of application, there were many challenges along the way. These inefficiencies in processes, caused many SBA EIDL applicants to be left without funding due to the funds being exhausted on May 5th of 2022.  What were some of the issues these businesses faced during the process?

• A 4560 is sent and its upside down via PDF but they do not accept it. A PDF upside can be easily rotated to view it properly.  This would cause a 30 to 60 delay.
• An authorization letter or other letters being sent and not being uploaded into the system. This would cause a 30 to 120 delay at times.
• A 4506 taking 1 to 4 months to process and to obtain back a transcript from the IRS.
• An email correction sent by the borrower to change their email or correct a wrong email submitted on the original application would take 2 to 6 months to be corrected, even after requesting the email change several times.
• While the support staff is nice, many of them did not have a financial, financial services, loan processing, business funding or loan processing background. The loan officers did possess the knowledge, but not the support team that took the inbound calls. It is evident that these were remote workers working from home with little or no financial background. 
• No uniform practices in how the application flow was managed.  Two applicants accept their loan offer on the portal almost at the same time and one gets a contract and funded faster than the other.  

While there are many other incidents that occurred in the processing of these loan applications, this caused thousands of businesses whose applications had been in process for several months to be left without funding. 

More important, is those businesses who had received an approval on their SBA portal, who accepted an approval and were just waiting for a contract to obtain funding.  There were countless businesses who accepted their loan amounts and were just waiting for contracts.  However, due to funds being exhausted, these businesses may be at jeopardy from closing down.  

Furthermore, Last week, the SBA announced that the deadline for existing borrowers to submit applications for loan modifications, rehearings, and appeals would by May 6. But, on May 5, the SBA alerted the borrowers that the agency would no longer be accepting applications—one day ahead of its own deadline—due to a lack of funding. By the SBA’s own admission, there may still be funding available for transfer to the program to meet demand.

In addition, on May 6th  U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government Chair Chris Van Hollen and U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship Chair Ben Cardin (both D-Md.)  sent a letter to U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman urging the agency to process pending COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program applications using available funds. 

In that letter, there were two items pointed out by the Senator, to include:

• No1. Over the past week, SBA sent notifications encouraging existing borrowers to apply before the program closed on May 6th. By announcing that the program was out of funds on May 5th, prior to the application deadline, the SBA has misled thousands of struggling small businesses into believing that funding for EIDL loans would be available.  
• No2. The administration’s request in the President’s Budget for $320 million in transfer authority from the EIDL Targeted Advance program has not been approved by Congress, and it is not within the administration’s authority to prejudge Congress’s intent by setting aside funding for program administration when eligible small businesses have yet to be served. Considering that SBA transferred $500 million to its administrative account less than two months ago under separate authority in section 90006(b)(2)(B) of the IIJA, the decision to refuse to tap funding that could be used to keep the EIDL program operational is that much harder to comprehend.

Taking into consideration these factors, we request for any member of U.S. Congress or Senate who receives this petition to work with the SBA to continue funding on those applications that received an offer and were pending a contract, those businesses whose applications were just waiting for a 4506 or businesses who were previously funded and were just pending an increase. 

By signing this petition, you are helping U.S. business owners continue their business operations. 

Thank you for your support.  Your support will be greatly appreciated by countless business owners across America who find themselves in this limbo.  With 100,000 signatures from individuals and business owners, this can be heard by Congress.  If we don't obtain sufficient signatures from this petition, some of these businesses may suffer.