Announcements
We’re still accepting new applications
UPDATE: May 6th, 2021
PPP Funds Still Available for CDFIs and MDIs
While the general funding for the Paycheck Protection Program has run out, there is still funds available for Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs) like Ponce Bank. These funds were set aside to help underserved customers in our communities, and Ponce Bank will continue to process applications that are in-process and to accept new applications until the SBA confirms these specially earmarked funds are exhausted.
We will stop taking new PPP applications on May 19th
UPDATE: May 18th, 2021
Please submit your applications by 5pm on Wed, May 19, 2021
Attention Ponce PPP People!
Thanks to so many of you for sharing your #PonceLove in such abundance and entrusting us with your PPP journey. The SBA is signaling that PPP funds earmarked for CDFIs and MDIs will soon run out, so we’re asking that you please submit your applications by 5pm on Weds May 19th.
Our portal will be closed to new applications after that time, but rest assured, if you’ve submitted your application before that, we’ll be working night and day to push through as many as possible before the funds are exhausted.
We are #PonceProud of the resilience and creativity of our small business community and promise to do everything we can to help you through this final phase of the PPP process.
Our PPP Application Portal Is Open
UPDATE: January 12th, 2021
Start your PPP application today.
We have begun accepting loan applications for round 3 of the SBA’s Payroll Protection Program (PPP). If you missed the last round, here’s your chance and if your revenues were down 25% in any quarter of 2020 vs 2019 you can apply for a second forgivable PPP loan!
For this new round of PPP loans, the SBA is limiting the initial applications to smaller, community-based lenders like Ponce Bank.
The PPP Loans Are Back
UPDATE: January 11th, 2021
Our Application Portal Will Open on Tuesday, January 12th
We’re preparing to open our PPP portal for round 3 of the SBA’s Payroll Protection Program. If you missed the last round here’s your chance and if your revenues were down 25% in any quarter of 2020 vs 2019 you can apply for a second forgivable PPP loan!
We’re working around the clock to incorporate final SBA guidelines that came out late last Friday and our PPP Application Portal should open on Tuesday Jan 12. The SBA is accepting applications from institutions like ours for first time PPP borrowers on Monday Jan 11th and states they will begin accepting applications for Second Draw Loans on Weds January 13th. Keep checking back for further updates!
3rd Round of PPP Loans
UPDATE: January 8th, 2021
More help is on the way!
We’re preparing to open our PPP portal for round 3 of the SBA’s Payroll Protection Program. If you missed the last round here’s your chance and if your revenues were down 25% in any quarter of 2020 vs 2019 you can apply for a second forgivable PPP loan!
We’ve been working behind the scenes to improve our portal, streamline the process, and we’re ready to go as soon as the SBA gives us the green light. We think it’ll be the 18th or 19th of January.
New Round of PPP Loans & Automatic Forgiveness Below $150K
UPDATE: Dec 22nd, 2020
Great news! The legislative stalemate has finally (sorta?) ended, and it looks like another round of PPP loans will soon be available. Even bigger news is that we’re told that all loans below $150,000 will be automatically forgiven.
IF YOUR LOAN IS LESS THAN $150,000…
So, if your loan is less than $150,000 (and this means most of you!) please don’t submit your forgiveness application until the rules and forms are clarified! We’ll keep you posted so check back here regularly for the latest updates.
Simplified Form - 3508S
UPDATE: Oct 29th, 2020
Hello Ponce PPP People!
Good news! Introducing the form 3508S which is available for most of you with PPP loans of 50,000 or less.
This simplified version of the application is a one page form that has a single line for the borrower’s calculated forgiveness amount. This single line captures all of the same eligible payroll and non-payroll expenses that are on lines 1 to 8 of the Form 3508 and Form 3508EZ. You can still use the interactive calculator on our forgiveness portal to calculate the amount.
Form 3508S Highlights
Only borrowers that received a loan of $50,000 or below may use this application. A Borrower that, together with its affiliates, received PPP loans totaling $2 million or greater cannot use this form.
The borrower is automatically exempt from any reductions in the borrower’s loan forgiveness amount based on reductions in full-time equivalent (FTE) employees or reductions in employee salary or wages. However, these calculations are not required on the 3508EZ and many borrowers with a loan of $50,000 and under don’t have employees or only have 1 or 2 employees, so these calculations are not complex or relevant to begin with for borrowers of this size.
We encourage you to use the calculator on our Forgiveness Application Portal to simulate different scenarios. Remember, it may be beneficial to wait till the end of your covered period to apply so that you will have paid more eligible expenses.
We are no longer taking PPP applications.
UPDATE: Aug 12th, 2020
SBA’s final extended deadline for applications was on August 8th, 2020, and they have closed their lending portal. Accordingly, Ponce Bank has stopped accepting PPP applications.
To learn more about PPP forgiveness, check out our PPP Education Center page.
We will stop taking new PPP loan applications on Aug 6th.
UPDATE: Aug 4th, 2020
In order to make sure we are able to process as many applications as possible prior to the SBA closing their lending portal on August 8th, we will stop taking applications for PPP loans at noon this Thursday August 6th, 2020.
We will do all we can to process all loans we receive prior to noon on Thursday but depending upon loan volume we cannot guarantee all will be completed. Loans will be processed on a first come first served basis.
We’re accepting PPP applications again.
UPDATE: July 7th, 2020
We are happy to report that Ponce Bank is once again accepting PPP applications! Because the deadline was extended with a focus on minority businesses and underserved communities we have reopened our PPP Application Portal and hope to continue issuing PPP loans until the funds are depleted or the new deadline expires.
Your Ponce Bankers are here to help in any way we can and believe that local businesses are the engine of our community economies so we are here to help. If you’re been adversely affected by the Covid-19 crisis and believe you are eligible for a PPP loan please apply via our PPP Portal today.
PPP Loan Forgiveness Portal Is Open
UPDATE: July 3rd, 2020
The PPP Portal is open! Please note, our PPP team has been working around the clock to bring this live and in order to get things started we’ll be opening it in stages.
Today you can enter the portal, set up your access credentials and begin testing scenarios using the calculators.
On Monday we plan to open up “Ask the Accountant”.
Also please note, that there are some loans that will be uploaded in a final batch sometime over the weekend so if you attempt to enter and your loan is not available, don’t worry, try again later or tomorrow and it should be there. We wanted to get the majority of you up and running rather than delay the launch any further and for those of you who didn’t make it into the first wave, we apologize.
Meanwhile, remember, it’s not yet time for you to press submit, the rules are still being finalized, but in the meantime you can now begin calculating your forgiveness scenarios.
Join Us for the PPP Loan Forgiveness Webinar 102
UPDATE: June 23rd, 2020
Hello Ponce PPP People. We hope you, your friends and family are all doing OK and we’re happy to report that the PPP Forgiveness process is becoming more clear. Our second webinar explaining the PPP Loan Forgiveness process has been scheduled from 10 to 11am on Thursday June 25th.
We’re welcoming back Dan Morrill CPA from Wolf and Company to walk us step-by-step through the Ponce Bank PPP Loan Forgiveness Portal that we plan to launch early next week and will be accessible through this website.
The Ponce Bank PPP Education Center is open for business.
UPDATE: June 16th, 2020
Our PPP team has shifted its focus to loan forgiveness and we are hard at work gathering info to guide you through this complicated process. We know it feels confusing and unfortunately the rules continue to change. As soon as the SBA releases their final form and guidance we will open our Loan Forgiveness portal where you can begin uploading the documentation used to calculate the amount of your loan that will be forgiven.
Meanwhile, because many of you have expressed a fear to even spend the funds without a clear sense of the rules, we are gathering as much information as we can find and putting it in our new PPP Education Center page. Check back often for useful tips, Q&As, our own “Ask the Accountant” section, and to watch webinars we are hosting with expert guest speakers! Our first webinar, an overview of the PPP Loan Forgiveness Process and the newly modified current rules, featured our “Ask the Accountant” himself CPA Dan Morrill, took place on June 5th, and is available for viewing in the PPP Education Center now.
We are no longer taking PPP loan applications.
UPDATE: May 29th, 2020
To Our Ponce Bank Small Business Family,
We are turning our attention to the Loan Forgiveness process and have stopped taking PPP loan applications as of 5pm Friday May 29th so that our entire team can focus upon processing your applications for relief. Much has been written about how confusing this process seems and many of you have expressed a fear to spend the funds prior to receiving clear guidance from the SBA about the rules. We assure you that we’ll be here with you throughout the process to help in any way we can.
At this time our Fintech partner is developing a PPP Loan Forgiveness calculator and we’ll soon put it up on the portal. You’ll be able to input your actual or projected expenditures and it will calculate the amount of forgiveness based upon the current rules. We’ll update this calculator as new guidance emerges and it should help you run scenarios and develop some clarity about where you stand. We’re still not sure how much documentation you’ll need to preserve and share in order to receive forgiveness but in the meantime we recommend keeping careful records and receipts of everything you spend.
More to come soon!
Your Ponce Bankers
Please note, Our PPP Loan Application Portal Will be Closing on Friday May 29th
UPDATE: May 21st, 2020
To our Ponce Bank Small Business Family,
Phew. The past few weeks have been a blur as our PPP team processed over 800 applications. True to our roots as YOUR community bank, our median loan amount is currently less than $25,000 and we processed loans as small as $600. We were able to secure loans for many new customers who’d been turned away by bigger banks and received many thanks for how communicative and committed our team has been compared to many other institutions. Thanks for your positive feedback! It helps a tired team keep moving ahead!
We wanted to let you know that our attention is turning to the Loan Forgiveness process and we will stop taking PPP loan applications on Friday May 29th so that the entire team can shift their focus to processing your applications for relief. Much has been written about how confusing this process seems and many of you have expressed a fear to spend the funds prior to receiving clear guidance from the SBA about the rules. The IRS released form 3508 which attempts to clarify the rules. To help you understand how to navigate the forgiveness process we’re planning a series of webinars with industry expert lawyers and accountants to share their interpretations of the law and answer your questions about it.
Although we have no control over the rules, most agree that they still need to be modified due to the unexpected length of the shutdown particularly as they pertain to businesses such as restaurants who are being forced to completely revamp their business models. We hope this comes to pass and want to assure you that we’ll be here with you throughout the process to help in any way we can.
We are Stronger Together
Your Ponce Bankers
SBA’s Payroll Protection Plan (PPP) lending process has reopened
UPDATE: April 28th, 2020
To Our Ponce Bank Business Family and Friends,
The SBA’s Payroll Protection Program (PPP) lending process has reopened and we’ve been uploading our loan pipeline since early Monday morning. It’s slow going as virtually every bank in the country inundates the SBA with applications and throughout the day the performance of their loan upload system has been spotty. We will continue pushing loans into the portal 24/7 until we’ve either uploaded all the loan applications we’ve received or this second cycle of funding is exhausted and they close it up again.
This new round of funding set aside $60 Billion dollars for Community Banks, Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and Minority Deposit Institutions (MDIs). Ponce Bank is not only your community bank, dedicated to lending and supporting our neighborhood businesses and property owners, we are also a CDFI and an MDI. We believe that strong, locally owned businesses create resilient and thriving communities and we are here to help them.
We are hopeful that these funds, earmarked for institutions like ours, combined with limitations the SBA placed on the number of loans the big banks can process, will help us secure more loans for our customers this time around but like other banks, we can’t offer any guarantee that your loan will be funded during this round. That said, we know you may be hurting and, true to our hard earned CDFI and MDI certifications, you can rest assured that we will fight for you and continue doing everything we can to support our community and the businesses at its core.
We urge you to continue writing or calling your elected officials asking for additional funds and demanding better ways to get funds into the hands of those businesses most in need. Meanwhile, if you’ve not yet applied for a PPP Loan we will continue to process applications for our community members until the program is closed for good. Please visit our website poncecovidrelief.com for information about how to apply for a PPP loan and many additional resources offering assistance and guidance to those affected by the pandemic.
We are Stronger Together.
Your Ponce Bankers
Funds Available to Non-Profits & Small Businesses Under 2nd Round of Payroll Protection Plan
UPDATE: April 27th
What went wrong with the first round of PPP?
The first round of funding was quickly depleted by tech savvy big banks and fin-techs.
Many small businesses and community organizations were unable to secure loans from the Payroll Protection Plan (PPP) that was established to support businesses affected by COVID-19. PPP loans are supposed to keep people employed and if your business uses the money for approved expenses you may apply to have the loan forgiven which means you won’t have to pay the money back. In response to a massive public outcry the second round of PPP funding, signed into law on April 24th, includes $60 Billion allocated specifically to community banks.
Support failed to reach the underserved.
Ponce Bank is a certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that specializes in lending within disadvantaged communities and the bank is helping businesses and organizations alike apply for access to these funds.
Most banks refused to take applications from non-customers.
We are processing loans for customers and non-customers alike because our communities have been harder hit than most by this pandemic and we are here to help in any way we can. Ponce Bank was born in the Bronx and we understand that thriving small businesses are the engines that drive thriving communities. We’ve partnered with small businesses throughout NYC and in parts of NJ for over 60 years.
Ponce Bank. Dreamers Welcome.
About PPP Funds Being Exhausted
UPDATE: April 16th
We’ve been working around the clock to help with your PPP loan requests and are extremely disappointed that the funds have been depleted before many of your requests for assistance could be fulfilled. Here’s a letter from the president of The American Bankers Association communicating how urgent this situation is. Our Senior Management is advocating on your behalf and we encourage you to help by also reaching out to your elected representatives urging them to provide additional funding for this desperately needed program.
Meanwhile we are continuing to process loan requests so that our pipeline is ready to open the moment additional funding becomes available. Please continue to respond to all requests from your Ponce Bankers and keep gathering all the necessary documentation for your applications. Clearly we can’t afford the slightest delay should additional funds be made available.
We stand with you.
Stronger Together,
Your Ponce Bank Family