“We are actively processing requests as we receive them,” the bank said. “… When someone registers on our PPP page on www.Truist.com, they will quickly receive a confirmation email and a link to begin the application process.

Tony Plath, a retired finance professor at UNC Charlotte, said the rush to implement the PPP program had contributed to the overload of applicants.

“The whole process is supposed to take just seven days from submitting the application to depositing the loan proceeds, whereas normal SBA credits take four to six weeks,” Plath said. “The SBA infrastructure is just overwhelmed with applications right now. “

Plath said that not only will loan approvals and release of funds “take longer than advertised, but the risk of fraudulent applications will increase dramatically.”

Plath said there would be recognition after the loan “that a number of people have acquired forgivable loans that really never qualified for them in the first place.”

“More insidiously, it also means that many of the small businesses that really rely on these P3s to survive until next Monday just aren’t going to make it.”

Super-communities and regional banks with an extended partnership with the Small Business Administration, such as First Bancorp of Southern Pines, are likely to carve out a niche in PPP lending, Plath said. “The lending charges associated with PPP loans will offset dismal net interest margins, even the newly revised ones, which set a somewhat higher price for PPP loans to allow community banks to extend these loans without losing. money in the process. “