5 Banks That Are Currently Accepting Round 2 PPP Loan Applications
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WRITTEN & RESEARCHED BY
Senior Staff Writer
UPDATED
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The SBA stopped funding all PPP loans in May 2021. Existing borrowers may still be able to apply for loan forgiveness using the SBA's PPP direct forgiveness portal.
With Round 2 of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ready to kick-off the second week of January for community-based lenders, businesses may be wondering where they should go to apply for a first or second draw PPP loan. For many businesses, the most natural place to apply will be their bank. Indeed, most banks that process SBA loans will be processing Round 2 PPP loans.
You may have heard, however, that some lenders who participated in the PPP program in 2020 are declining to do so in 2021. Many lenders struggled to keep up with applications and unclear guidance and took a hit in their public reputations as a result. Additionally, most banks are expected to prioritize existing customers who apply over non-customers. Banks were, overwhelmingly, the biggest PPP lenders in 2020, accounting for 4,409,646 loans.
Wondering which banks are accepting PPP applications? Below, we’ll look at some of the bigger lenders we know are participating in PPP Round 2, as well as ways you can find a PPP lender if you aren’t a customer of one of these banks. Note that while the second round of PPP is already partially open for community lenders, the start date for national lenders isn’t yet known.
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Lendio 
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Learn More About Our Top Picks
| Company | Highlight | Next StepsHighlight |
|---|---|---|
Wells Fargo Business Loans
 | One of the nation's biggest lenders to small business. | One of the nation's biggest lenders to small business.
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Chase Bank Business Loans
 | Disbursed the most PPP money in 2020 | Disbursed the most PPP money in 2020
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Bank of America Business Loans & Lines of Credit
 | The biggest Round 1 PPP lender. | The biggest Round 1 PPP lender.
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U.S. Bank Business Loans
 | The biggest bank in many underserved states. | The biggest bank in many underserved states.
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PNC Bank Small Business Loans
 | Made large PPP loan disbursements in 2020 | Made large PPP loan disbursements in 2020
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| Show Fewer Options |
Read more below to learn why we chose these options.
Table of Contents
5 Banks Accepting PPP Applications
Here are five large, national banks offering PPP loans. All of these banks are confirmed as participating in PPP Round 2.
Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo has stated that it will participate in the 2nd round of PPP funding. The bank, one of the nation's largest and most widespread, is one of the more accessible big lenders in the country. Wells Fargo made 185,598 PPP loans in 2020.
Wells Fargo did catch a lot of heat last year for the bungled rollout of its PPP application, which it closed before many borrowers were even able to apply. Nevertheless, Wells Fargo will be taking applications when the SBA begins processing requests. It's promising a smoother and more orderly application experience this time around.
Get Started With Wells Fargo Business Loans
Chase Bank
Chase Bank Business Loans |
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America's biggest bank (in terms of assets and market capitalization) will be accepting PPP applications for Round 2 once the SBA opens the floodgates. Chase made 269,424 PPP loans in 2020, landing them in the number two spot behind Bank of America. In terms of total PPP money disbursed, however, Chase came out on top with a larger average loan size.
Chase will be lending again for Round 2, but there's an important catch: Chase Bank will only be accepting applications from businesses that have an active business checking account, or that open one.
Chase does caution that applicants who don't currently have a business checking account should expect a delay of up to 10 days between the time their account opens and the point at which they're allowed to apply for a PPP loan. This may make Chase a suboptimal choice for many borrowers. If you don't have an account and do want to apply through Chase, you should open that business checking account as soon as possible.
Get Started With Chase Bank Business Loans
Bank Of America
Bank of America underwrote more PPP loans in Round 1 than any other lender, leading the pack with 343,000 loans. Bank of America has confirmed that it will participate in Round 2, but they'll be slower out of the gate than small and community banking institutions.
As the bank clearly has the capacity to successfully process a large number of PPP loans -- and operates a lot of locations throughout the country -- Bank of America may be one of the better bets for businesses that are worried about getting lost in the shuffle.
Get Started With Bank of America Business Loans & Lines of Credit
U.S. Bank
In many parts of the country, U.S. Bank is the biggest game in town. On the West Coast, it is one of the more prolific banks in terms of retail locations, and in cities like Cincinnati, for example, U.S. Bank made the most PPP loans of any nationwide brand. Nationally, they made 101,377 PPP loans in 2020.
U.S. Bank has confirmed that it will begin processing Round 2 PPP loans as soon as the SBA makes the program available to banks of its size, making it a good fall-back PPP lender for many businesses that don't have a connection to a community lender.
Get Started With U.S. Bank Business Loans
PNC Bank
PNC Bank Small Business Loans |
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Many of the states not covered by U.S. Bank are covered by PNC Bank, which operates primarily on the East Coast. PNC made 72,908 PPP loans in 2020, which is lower than the other banks on this list. However, these loans were, on average, quite large: PNC Bank disbursed the fourth most PPP money of any lender in 2020.
PNC Bank has stated that they will begin accepting applications for Round 2 of PPP as soon as the SBA makes the program available to large lending institutions.
Note PNC's application process for PPP loans will be entirely digital. In fact, they go out of their way to ask customers not to complete the SBA paper application for a PPP loan.
Get Started With PNC Bank Small Business Loans
Business Loan & Funding Products Review Methodology
We spend hours researching and evaluating each business loan and funding product that we review at Merchant Maverick, placing special emphasis on key characteristics to generate our ratings.
When rating lenders and funding providers, we use a 31-point rubric that looks at rates and fees, services, eligibility requirements, application, sales and advertising transparency, customer service, and user reviews. We weigh each section differently to calculate the total star rating. This rubric is applied to traditional term loans, as well as short-term loans, start-up loans, lines of credit, online lending products, merchant cash advances, and equipment financing products.
- Rates & Fees: 20% of the total star rating
- Services: 20% of the total star rating
- Eligibility Requirements: 20% of the total star rating
- Application: 15% of the total star rating
- Sales & Advertising Transparency: 10% of the total star rating
- Customer Support: 5% of the total star rating
- User Reviews: 5% of the total star rating
Each section is further broken down into granular, weighted subsections, in which we examine specific attributes like terms lengths, conditions of repayment, credit score and revenue requirements, ease of application, length of time to funding, the ethics involved in promoting the lending product, customer support, and the overall reputation of the lender or funding provider.
Read more about how we rate small business lenders.
Get Connected With Banks Through A Loan Matchmaker
If you’re not a current customer of a bank that’s participating in Round 2 of PPP, you may rightfully worry about where your application will land in the queue. One way to hedge your bets is to use a loan aggregator to push your application to one of the many lenders that make up its partner base. Fintechs (online lenders) accounted for the third most PPP loans in Round 1, just behind credit unions. These companies generally pride themselves on making applications as easy as possible and, since this is a regulated SBA program, most of the cautions that we would normally issue around using a fintech lender (higher rates, etc.) do not apply here.
Some aggregator options include:
Lendio
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Lendio
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If you’re itching to fill out your PPP application before the program opens, Lendio can accommodate you. You can fill out (most) of your PPP Round 2 application in advance, then finish it once Lendio is able to get it to an active PPP lender. Lendio can be particularly useful for businesses who find that their Round 1 fintech lender is sitting Round 2 out.
Lendio will continue to accept PPP applications until funds for the program have become exhausted.
SmartBiz
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SmartBiz 
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Since we’re talking about an SBA program, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention SmartBiz. As an aggregator that, in normal times, specializes in hooking applicants up to qualified SBA lenders, SmartBiz has a lot of practice navigating the SBA bureaucracy and doing as much of the application heavy lifting as possible.
How To Find Local Banks That Are Offering PPP Applications
If you one of the many businesses that prefer to bank locally, the SBA has some good news for you: community lenders are getting a headstart on Round 2 PPP loans. Some are taking first draw PPP loan applications as of January 11, 2020, with second draw applications opening January 13.
Your best bet is to check directly with your local bank, either visiting their website or calling directly, to see if they’ll be participating this time around. Failing that, the SBA has kept a list of participating lenders. That list is currently returning a 404 error, but hopefully, that issue will be fixed before the program really gets underway.
More About PPP Loans
Finding a PPP lender is only a very small part of the process of getting a PPP loan. If this is your first time applying to the program, or you’re confused about what’s changed, our COVID-19 business relief resources can help arm you with the information you need.
- 7 Lenders That Are Offering Second Round PPP Loans Online
- Round 2 PPP Loans Explained: Rules, Requirements, & Where To Apply
- PPP Round 2: How To Apply For A First Or Second Draw PPP Loan
Chris Motola
Senior Staff Writer at Merchant Maverick
Chris has been writing about small business topics since 2003. In 2015, he joined Merchant Maverick, where he writes about business financing, payment processing, and demographic trends in entrepreneurship. Chris has been featured in Fox Business, ABC News, Yahoo Finance, GoBankingRates, Newsweek, BizJournals, and other publications. He has a Bachelor’s of Arts in English Writing Arts from SUNY Oswego, and a Masters of Science in Interactive Media from the University of Central Florida. He currently resides in the Hudson Valley region of New York.
View Chris Motola's professional experience on LinkedIn.
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