Small business owners wait for PPP loan update

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - Many small businesses are applying for the next round of financial help from the government to stay afloat, and waiting to find out if they have to pay back the previous COVID-19 relief loan. It’s a debt many owners hope they don’t have burden because of the devastating blow the pandemic dealt.

“We primarily staff the hospitality industry, and that was greatly impacted by the pandemic, so they didn’t need the services of a staffing company,” said Greg Minard, CEO Global Team Staffing.

The CEO of Global Team Staffing saw his revenue cut by over 40 percent when restaurants and hotels didn’t need any new employees during the pandemic, which meant tough decisions about staffing.

“At the beginning of January, we had 244 people working for us. Total payroll went down to less than 50,” said Minard.

He applied and received the Paycheck Protection Program loan to help bring back staff and keep the doors open. Just enough money to get his business through 2020. The U.S. Small Business Administration recently announced its already forgiven more than 1.1. million of those loans - totaling over 100 billion dollars.

Minard submitted his company’s documentation to prove his loan was spent according to guidelines and now he waits to see if it’ll be forgiven.

“We feel good about it because we kept good records,” said Minard, “That’s a big burden of debt - especially when you know you can’t pay it back.”

He hopes to find out this month if the loan is forgiven.

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