CARMEL, Ind. (WTHR) - Hundreds of thousands of small businesses reported they missed out on the $350 billion emergency relief fund meant to provide loans to the country’s smallest business owners.
Last week, those funds quickly ran dry and those who were approved for loans found out the money was gone.
One of those business owners is Megan Peck, who owns Mini Minds in Carmel.
“When we found out that there was going to be two loans, I felt overcome with relief. I was, like, 'Alright, I think we will actually be able to get through this,'” she said.
She worked with her accountant to submit the applications.
“I had to submit and re-submit. Then they needed this form and that form. Things were changing so much that I was sitting in the office alone late every night for about six or seven days reworking our applications until it looked perfect,” Peck said.
But Peck wasn’t one of the lucky applicants to get funding.
“We got the thumbs up from our banker that our loan had made it through underwriting and then of course, just a few hours later, we find out that all of the money was gone,” Peck said. “When I realized there weren’t any funds and any additional funds were stuck, I have to admit, I lost faith. There were two or three days I just sat and cried.”
Peck has 15 employees working at her practice that serves 500-750 families a month. They opened three years ago and just expanded their space last October. Right now, her team is doing teletherapy and they sell social-emotional learning kits to families.
With no relief yet for her small business, Peck can’t help but feel worried.
“We didn’t have a chance against these bigger companies who could do paperwork overnight and then us, as a small business, trying to get these papers together with my team from afar. We were set up for failure from the beginning it feels like,” she said.
Peck said her application is done and ready to go whenever a new round of funding is released.