In the coming weeks and months, financial institutions will start to receive an influx of loan forgiveness applications as a result of the U.S. government’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The PPP allocated billions of dollars in federally guaranteed loans to American small businesses to maintain their payrolls through the COVID-19 pandemic, which will be forgiven if the borrowers meet certain Small Business Administration (SBA) criteria. To help lenders manage the complexities of the PPP loan forgiveness process and create an exceptional experience for their customers, Crowe has introduced the Crowe PPP Loan Forgiveness Platform for Lenders. Crowe is a public accounting, consulting and technology firm with offices around the world.

“In this unprecedented time, customer relationships are more important than ever, so it is essential for lenders to establish an efficient and comprehensive process to work through PPP loan forgiveness with their customers,” said Ryan Plourde, consulting principal and leader of Microsoft CRM services at Crowe. “We utilized our team’s long-standing experience working with financial institutions and our relationship with Microsoft to develop this platform to help lenders navigate through the potentially changing requirements surrounding PPP loan forgiveness to better assist their customers throughout the process.”

The Crowe PPP Lender Loan Forgiveness Platform was created with the power and functionally of Microsoft Dynamics™ 365 and allows financial institutions to design a process to work through PPP loan forgiveness with their customers using one or all four features below:

• Submission portal: A centralized place for borrowers to easily and securely complete applications and upload all required documents as well as communicate directly with staff and access personalized advice, from FAQs to helpful videos.
• Forgiveness amount determination: This preconfigured calculator utilizes web-based technology to consistently collect and interpret information for lenders and their customers to determine forgiveness amounts based on PPP requirements. The calculator also provides users the ability to save input and add to the workflow.
• Standardized, repeatable workflow: Manage workflow through the entire forgiveness process step by step, from borrower request to SBA submission to approval and beyond with: cloud-based technology built for Microsoft Dynamics 365 and hosted securely on the Microsoft Azure™ cloud; review and validation of customer-provided documentation; checklists to confirm aspects of forgiveness are covered; and executive-level reporting, insights and metrics.
• Specialized support: Crowe specialists can help with all areas of the PPP loan forgiveness process and are available to support and augment staff, perform second-line quality assurance and manage the SBA submission. The specialists can interpret specific situations based on PPP guidance, assist with operational setup and governance, and educate and train call center personnel and relationship managers.