By Mike Kruzman / news@whmi.com

Today is the last day for small businesses to apply for the Payroll Protection Program loan but a local lender is encouraging owners that they still can find needed help.

Andrea Mosher is the Vice President of Lending for Lake Trust Credit Union, which is headquartered in Brighton Township. With the deadline for small businesses to apply for a PPP loan upon us, Mosher is confident that there won’t be a third round of the funding. Despite that, she says there are still grants and opportunities that they are hearing about that they believe will come to fruition and can be a source of funding for small businesses. Mosher told WHMI that businesses have to think long term about what changes they need to make today to get them over the line in the future.

Mosher said that they had a very busy first round of PPP applications and beginning to the second round. Loan requests slowed a bit, but in this final week and half, she says they picked up again, likely because of conversations business owners had with advisors or simply the urgency of the program ending. Mosher said the second round of funding looked much different from the first, in that they saw more businesses with smaller numbers of employees and small loan amounts. Now that more businesses are beginning to re-open in some capacity, she said owners are starting to understand where their shortfalls are and how these funds can be beneficial. Mosher encouraged small business owners to communicate with their financial institution to become aware of opportunities that come available that they might be eligible for. To business owners, she said to think about your business model today and how it might evolve in the future, and know that there are resources and people to help you get your business through these times.

If businesses spend 60% of their PPP funds in 24 weeks, they become eligible for forgiveness on the loan. Mosher said they aren’t quite ready to begin that process with small businesses as they still don’t have all the parameters available from the Treasury. She said they’ve been reaching out to partners who’ve received the loans to keep them updated, and are hoping to have more guidance in the next week or two.