CARES Act

Local banks, businesses attempt to obtain CARES Act funding

By Tim Mosier Trail-Gazette

President of the Estes Park branch of the Bank of Colorado, Christina Kraft, says she and her team have been working around the clock for the last three weeks in efforts to get as much funding in the hands of local business owners as possible.

“Bank of Colorado was committed from the onset to understanding the program and planning for implementation to the best of our ability under constantly changing government guidance. Our approach of early engagement was to ensure the communities and businesses we serve would have access to much needed funding and retain community jobs,” Kraft said.

“I’m pleased to share that we received Small Business Administration (SBA) authorization for over 100 requests and are in process of closing and funding over $15 million of PPP Loans in the Estes Park community. Most borrowers have received authorized funding and we have only a handful of loans remaining to close and fund this week,” said Kraft. “Our timing approach is needs based, meaning some businesses are seeking funding as quickly as possible while others prefer to wait until the required funding date as timing impacts use of funds directive and forgiveness eligibility.”

After the CARES Act was signed into law by President Trump on March 27 the process was opened up to applications on April 3, giving financial institutions roughly a week to prepare programs and application processes.

By April 16, funding across the country had been depleted.

“There were a few applications that we were unfortunately not able to secure funding for prior to program depletion but are ready to finalize authorization if a second round of funding is available, which is likely this week,” said Kraft. “Initial approval and funding is only the beginning of this process. We are providing resources to our borrowers to understand the current guidance for forgiveness requirements which will aid both the Bank and borrower to maximize loan forgiveness when the next stage of the PPP process begins.”

Even though funding is currently depleted, the US Senate approved nearly $500 billion in additional aid on Tuesday (April 21) and the House passed the bill on Thursday. The deal adds $310 billion to the CARES Act’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and $60 billion for the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. It also includes $75 billion for hospitals and health-care providers, and $25 billion for a new testing program.

Congress has now committed nearly $3 trillion in emergency funding in total

“The program is widely anticipated to be replenished, though I would highly encourage everyone to call their representatives in congress,” President and CEO of Bank of Estes Park, Scott Applegate, said.

Luckily, for some local small businesses, Bank of Estes Park has been able to quickly and competently take applications and disperse funding.

“We took almost a week longer to get the program live because we wanted to get it right,” Applegate said.

And it appears they have.

“We were quoting – and will continue to quote, if the program is replenished – three business days from complete application to approval, and another three business days to actual funding,” said Applegate.

While the bank will continue to quote applicant these times, some have experienced even quicker turnaround.

“I filed two loan applications with Bank of Estes Park and got approval in 24 Hours and funding in 48 total hours,” said local business owner, Charley Dickey. “I was funded this morning – thank god.”

Through a joint venture with Colorado Lending Source, Bank of Estes Park was able to utilize resources of both institutions to get the program up and running quickly and efficiently.

“Preliminarily, I can tell you that our program funded over 130 jobs in the Estes Valley before national funds ran out, with over $640K already disbursed,” Applegate said.

Joel Delia, with Protech Plumbing and Heating in Estes Park what, sadly, had a more common experience for small business owners. See FUNDING, pg. 26