Bank of America says Nearly 60,000 Customers Applied for $6 Billion in Loans

These are trying times for both the American consumer and the business owner.

According to Bank of America, who was just about half way through its very first day of administering a small business relief program, over 58,000 customers had applied for $6 billion in loans.

As of mid-afternoon on Friday, only Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase among the largest U.S. lenders, were accepting applications for the program.

“That is an astounding number of applications to take in such a short period of time and considering we just launched the site this morning at 8:45 a.m.,” a Bank of America manager told staff in an email.

Bank of America was the first major lender to get its web portal for the Paycheck Protection Program up and going.

“Having just received guidance outlining how to implement a $349 billion program literally hours before it starts, we would ask for everyone to be patient,” Richard Hunt, head of the Consumer Bankers Association, said on Thursday.
Hunt said that the organization’s members would “move heaven and earth to get a system in place and running to help America’s small businesses and the millions of men and women who work at them.”

The bank is prioritizing existing customers with online accounts who are active borrowers as of last month.

“We have to focus on the borrowing clients to make sure we can take care of them,” said Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan.

Senator Marc Rubio took to Twitter to complain and said, “The requirement that a #SmallBusiness not just have a business account but also a loan or credit card is NOT in the law we wrote & passed or in the regulations. This is a @BankofAmerica requirement not a govt one. They should drop it. This money is 100% guaranteed by fed govt.”

Disclaimer: We have no position in Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) and have not been compensated for this article.