WASHINGTON— The Trump Administration has reversed itself and now says it will release the names of borrowers who received Paycheck Protection Program loans of $150,000 or more. Those borrowers account for about 75% of funds lent through the program, according to the Treasury Department.
For credit unions, it’s unlikely many of the PPP loans they have made to members will be individually disclosed. According to the SBA, the average size of a loan made by a credit union through the program has been about $50,000.
On Friday, Treasury and the Small Business Administration announced plans to disclose the names, addresses, demographic data, number of jobs supported and other details of businesses that received PPP funds. Treasury said it will not be dislcosing specific loan amounts, but instead will place each loan in one of five size categories ranging from $150,000 to the maximum loan amount of $10 million.
As CUToday.info had reported, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had on multiple occasions previously rejected disclosing loan-level data for the more than $650-billion in PPP loans made to date, saying doing so would mean disclosing confidential business information, as the amounts are based on monthly payroll.
How Data Will be Disclosed
Treasury and SBA did not say when the data would be released. For loans of less than $150,000, the agencies plan to disclose summary information broken down by ZIP Code, industry, business type and various demographic categories.
To date, the only known borrowers are those who have acknowledged receiving the loans voluntarily, or due to securities disclosure laws.
Some members of Congress along with other organizations have been calling for disclosure of borrowers, arguing the public has a right to know how taxpayer funds were being spent.
Of the roughly 4.6 million borrowers in the program, about 86% took out loans worth less than $150,000, according to data released by the SBA. But loans of greater than $150,000 represent 73% of the total amount approved under the PPP, according to analysis conducted by the Wall Street Journal
“We are striking the appropriate balance of providing public transparency, while protecting the payroll and personal income information of small businesses, sole proprietors and independent contractors,” Mnuchin said in a statement.