#Blue acorn ppp customer service number free#

Largely because of the two companies’ efforts, lenders made 5.8 million loans of $50,000 or less this year, up from 3.6 million in 2020. When Blueacorn and Womply started their systems in late February, the volume of P.P.P.

All the lender would have to do, Womply said, was submit the paperwork to the government and fund the loan. Womply gathered their information, handled borrowers’ questions, ran fraud and identity checks and bundled the loan documents into a package that it steered to one of its partner lenders. So in late February, Womply started a web-based interface called Fast Lane through which borrowers could apply for P.P.P. Most were for less than $17,000, and the vast majority went to solo ventures, which are more likely to be run by women and people of color. From late February to May 31, when the program ended, the companies processed 2.3 million loans. Womply banners adorned billboards and New York City buses.

#Blue acorn ppp customer service number free#

“Literally free money for those who qualify,” a Blueacorn advertisement on Facebook read. Suddenly, there was a lot of money to be made - if only someone could get businesses in the door. And in February, the government tweaked the program’s rules so that unprofitable solo businesses, which had previously been ineligible, could get loans. To encourage banks to lend to smaller businesses, Congress in December raised the fees for small loans. The program’s largest lender, JPMorgan Chase, refused to even make loans of less than $1,000.

When the government started the Paycheck Protection Program in April 2020, it quickly found that banks, from national giants to regional players, gravitated to bigger loans to more established businesses because they were easier to make and more lucrative. Addressing that is a core mission for us.” “Tiny businesses, self-employed individuals and minority communities are left out in the cold, over and over and over. “Millions of businesses were being left out,” said Barry Calhoun, the chief executive of Blueacorn, which was founded last year solely to help companies obtain P.P.P. In return, they took a hefty cut of the fees that lenders made on each loan. Next, they directed those applications to lenders.

First, they unleashed marketing blitzes encouraging freelancers, gig workers, sole proprietors and other small merchants to apply for loans through their websites. Rather, they acted as middlemen, charging into a gap between what big banks wouldn’t do and what small banks couldn’t do. loans made this year, the Times analysis found.īlueacorn and Womply aren’t banks, so they couldn’t actually lend any money. Between them, the two companies processed a third of all P.P.P. But this year, they became the breakout stars of the Paycheck Protection Program, the government’s $800 billion relief effort for small businesses. The other, Womply, founded a decade ago, sold marketing software. One of the companies, Blueacorn, didn’t exist before the pandemic. For their work, the companies stand to collect more than $3 billion in fees, according to a New York Times analysis - far more than any of the 5,200 participating lenders. Then two small companies came out of nowhere and, through an astute mix of technology and advertising - and the dogged pursuit of an opportunity that big banks missed - found a way to help those businesses. Though Congress approved billions in aid for small companies to help them keep paying their employees during the pandemic, there was a big problem: It wasn’t reaching the tiniest and neediest businesses.