The first round of the Paycheck Protection Program was a mix of chaos, confusion and favoritism with $349bn being sent out to businesses in 12 days; while the intent of the program was to save small businesses it turned out that larger companies were given preferential treatment while thousands of small businesses were shut out; the process was beset with technology problems on the bank side and the SBA delaying loan processing; customer service was the most common theme throughout as it was the deciding factor on whether or not companies received a loan; confusion from government got the problem off to a rocky and delayed start as most banks were unable to go live on the first day of the program; more than $500mn went to 134 publicly traded companies, some of whom have said they will return the money after getting some bad press; the second tranche is getting ready to come soon and there is a fear that the additional $310bn is oversubscribed; the second round should go smoother than the first and hopefully small businesses will be the majority of recipients. Business Insider
