BLUE ACORN PPP LOAN REVIEWS DRIVERS

On Thursday, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis released a staff report detailing the poor performance of many financial technology companies, known as fintechs, in administering the nation’s largest pandemic relief program. Local Blueacorn founders include former ABC15 anchor Stephanie Hockridge Reis and her entrepreneur husband Nate Reis. The video in the player above is from December 2021 coverage of the initial fraud investigation.

BLUE ACORN PPP LOAN REVIEWS DRIVERS

Blueacorn saw enormous demand during this period, ultimately supporting 808,000 small business owners / sole proprietors via disbursement of $12.5 billion in SBA PPP funds.īlueacorn’s borrowers were the people who keep our economy running and weave together the fabric of our communities: beauty salon owners, truck drivers who are operating their business off their phone in between stops, our favorite local coffee shops and restaurants that define our neighborhoods, residential construction workers, rideshare or taxi drivers, landscapers, and local delivery workers, among a variety of other professionals.PHOENIX - A Scottsdale-based company that processed Paycheck Protection Program loan applications during the pandemic failed to screen out applicants with signs of fraud while abusing the program to enrich its owners, according to a congressional subcommittee.īlueacorn PPP helped process more than $12 billion in PPP loans, according to the company. Many were also unwilling to lend to individuals altogether.īlueacorn was founded in April 2020 with the singular purpose of advancing the original mission of PPP by democratizing access to loan relief for America’s small businesses, independent contractors, and self-employed workers – groups who are often overlooked by our traditional banking system and could not seek relief through the traditional PPP channels.Īs a fintech lender service provider, Blueacorn partnered with the Small Business Administration (SBA) and CDFIs to facilitate the application for and fulfillment of PPP loans predominantly for businesses and workers who qualified as independent contractors, self-employed individuals, freelancers, and gig workers. However, due to the structure of the program, it became clear that there was a growing divide when it came to loan disbursement, with lenders prioritizing applications for clients who would take out the largest loans and bring in the highest fees. The launch of PPP was met with enormous demand and the program was renewed two times to meet the flood of applications. PPP was designed to be an intentionally untargeted program with limited safeguards in place so as to prioritize reaching those in need as quickly as possible.

Given the severity of the threat posed by COVID-19, the government sought to create a program that focused on speed and access. PPP was a cornerstone program of the CARES Act, intended to help employers keep their employees on their payroll by covering up to two months of their payroll expenses with a loan that could be completely forgiven if it was spent in accordance with the program’s guidelines.

Blue acorn ppp loan reviews