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By Oregon Small business Association,
About 20 percent of business owners who borrowed money this year to stay afloat during the coronavirus pandemic have asked the Small Business Administration to forgive their Paycheck Protection Program loans—and most of those requests have been granted.
According to the Business Journals, about 1.27 million small businesses have sought forgiveness of loans granted in 2021, the majority of those for loans of less than $50,000. About 107,824 businesses borrowing $50,000 to $150,000 sought debt forgiveness, while 538 that borrowed $2 million or more requested it.
The SBA has fully or partially forgiven about 17 percent of 2021 loans amounting to $35.1 billion, which is about 13 percent of the $271 billion borrowed by businesses. The vast majority of those who apply are receiving full forgiveness of their loans.
The SBA noted that 84 percent of those who borrowed money through the PPP program in 2020 sought forgiveness of those loans—4.33 million of the 5.1 million.
The federal agency launched its own PPP loan forgiveness portal July 28 to enable business owners who borrowed $150,000 or less to seek forgiveness directly from the SBA rather than from the lenders.