I am sure that we all are familiar with this phrase. We may have seen this in a war movie where heroic soldiers crash through bullets and bombshells in order to save a wounded comrade. When these are based on true stories, they mean so much more. Some of my recent favorites are Hacksaw Ridge, the true story of Pfc. Desmond Doss who won the Congressional Medal of Honor in saving 75 men in the Battle of Okinawa, despite refusing to bear arms on religious grounds. Another is Dunkirk, the true story of the successful evacuation of 330,000 British, French, Belgian, and Dutch soldiers from France to Great Britain using every serviceable naval and civilian boat that could be found.
The concept of “no man left behind” is very American, and dates back before the Revolution. In 1758, during the French and Indian war, a group of American soldiers known as Rogers’ Rangers fought the British against the French using a combination of pioneer techniques and native-American tactics to outsmart enemy soldiers in deep woods where traditional militias struggles. According to Paul Springer, a professor of comparative military studies at the Air Command and Staff College, they were known for holding a certain standard, which was to leave no fellow soldier behind.
So now you know this concept is built in the American bloodstream. Life is precious and none of our fellow men or women, should be left behind.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago. It has been less than 7 weeks since we first began to see signs of strain among small businesses and our economy with the COVID-19 virus. Truly this has now changed how we live, work, and conduct our day. We have seen solid businesses that are prohibited from opening their doors, the new weekly unemployment numbers that are worse than our nightmares, and solid financial customers shaken to their core.
It is at this time that many of you in the credit union movement ran toward the crisis in an act of first response, instead of running away from it. Your actions have been to leave no business behind in attempts to modify loans, extend maturities, and continue to extend credit through resources like the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program.
Sadly, last Thursday, the original allocation of $349 billion ran out. Our team is still working to draft closing document sets to help CUs close these loans. The tragedy is that many small businesses were left on the sidelines without the ability to pay their employees. But while the PPP funding is currently out, it is not necessarily over. There is strong support among Republicans in both the House and Senate and President Trump to support more funding. Democrats such as Karen Mills, the SBA Administrator under President Obama, have called on Congress to act as soon as possible to replenish the funding.
When this happens, will you be prepared? Are you ready to run toward the disaster, ready to help your members? Ready for another round of long work hours, seven days a week, skipping meals just to help your fellow man. Remember, no eligible small business left behind. Why should we have this attitude? Because these loans provide cash that will make it to the hands of employees.
I suggest the following action steps.
1. If you are not signed up with the SBA to do these and other SBA loans, do it NOW. Government guaranteed lending, even that outside the PPP, can be a big part of your loan portfolio growth strategy this year and in future years. If you need help, contact us. We help institutions underwrite and package these loans.
2. Triage the PPP applications that you have now which you could not get approved. We have hundreds of these which were not able to be approved due to incorrect applications or poor supporting documentation. Reviewing these is an easy two step process. We have a checklist to make sure the request is complete.
3. Contact small businesses that can qualify for this program who may have not obtained a loan yet. Have the get ready so you can rush in with an application when the funding opens back up.
As always, we at Pactola are here to help. Contact us with any questions or assistance in processing these applications. We have worked with over 500 of these so far and look forward to helping more. Each one that I have reviewed, I note the number of jobs that are impacted. Some are only one job. Some hundreds. Each one makes a difference.
No eligible small business left behind!