PORTLAND, Ore. — Hovercraft is a small advertisement agency in Northeast Portland. Zack Teachout, a partner, finds himself in the same boat as many other small business owners - uncertain about the future.
"We're starting to see the effects of what's going on," said Teachout. "We've lost probably $500k to $700k worth of work."
Hoping to keep the company afloat, Teachout applied for a Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, loan through Chase Bank. It looked like Hovercraft would be getting a piece of the more than $340 billion pie.
"Everything was accepted, went through DocuSign, submitted all necessary paperwork, we were told we were approved, signed the bank note, had a celebratory text with our banker," said Teachout.
It was too good to be true. Teachout got word that Hovercraft would not be getting a loan after all.
"He (the banker) said they're out of money, your loan is not out in front of the SBA, wait until next round," said Teachout. "Fairly devastating."
"It's unfortunate that he finds himself in that situation," added Steve Curley of the Oregon Small Business Development Center Network.
Curley says more than likely Congress will be making billions of more dollars available to small businesses. He urges small business owners to be in close contact with their loan officers.
"You really want to understand how your bank will handle the next wave of funding," said Curley. "Am I going to have to reapply or am I in the queue, many banks have their own process where they haven't submitted it to the SBA yet but they have a line of folks ready to go."
Teachout will be doing everything he can to get Hovercraft some financial relief.
"We're financially stable in the short term," he said. "We'll ride it out and see what happens."
The Oregon Small Business Development Center Network is available to help small business owners navigate the loan process. Click here for more information.