As the economic impact of COVID-19 sweeps the nation, businesses are searching for options to stay afloat. This guide covers ways to protect your business and drum up remote revenue during this unusual time.
CARES Act for Businesses
In an effort to counteract the financial downfall from COVID-19, Congress passed the CARES Act designating over 2 trillion dollars in relief funding. A large chunk of the bill originally set aside $349 billion in loans to serve as a financial lifeline for small businesses. However, 13 days after these loans became available, the funds were exhausted. Due to the massive response, an additional $310 billion has now been added to the pot. If your business is in need of financial relief, here are some options to consider.
- Paycheck Protection Program: The SBA is accepting applications from non-profit and for-profit businesses with less than 500 employees. Companies may borrow 2.5 times their average payroll up to $10 million to keep workers employed and use towards other business expenses. Forgiveness potential is available to those who qualify.
- Economic Injury Disaster Loan Emergency Advance: Companies who have experienced a revenue loss due to COVID-19 may apply for up to a $10,000 Economic Injury Disaster Loan Emergency Advance. As with the PPP option, businesses must have less than 500 employees. Applications are processed on a first-come, first-serve basis.
State Loans for Small Businesses
In addition to the federal options above, the state you operate your business in may offer additional help. Some states for example, offer interest-free small business loans, relief packages, and more. The application deadline and requirements may vary depending on the state, industry, and business size.
Other Financial Assistance Programs
Some company giants such as Facebook and Amazon are making efforts to support small business owners that are struggling financially because of COVID-19.
- Facebook Grants: Facebook is currently offering grants up to $30,000 to small businesses in need of funding. For-profit companies with 2-50 employees that have been in operation for at least 1 year may apply.
- Amazon Grants: Amazon’s grant is available to small business owners with less than 50 employees, and with an annual revenue below $7 million. To support local communities, businesses owned by publicly-traded corporations will not qualify for this grant.
Reworking Your Business Strategy
Outside of loan relief, it may be wise to rework your business strategy to keep money coming in. For businesses that heavily rely on foot traffic, you might want to consider strengthening your online sales efforts. Meanwhile, for industries such as mortgage and auto, tighter lending standards are throwing another hurdle into the mix.
Mortgage Industry
In response to their own financial impact from COVID-19, lenders are prioritizing fiscally safer loan candidates. Because of this, stricter lending requirements are coming down on the mortgage industry like never before. As a result, JP Morgan Chase, the largest lender in the country, is now requiring new loan applicants to have a minimum credit score of 700. A 20% downpayment will also be needed for consideration.
Auto Industry
Also due to the COVID-19 outbreak, dealership doors remain shut to their core walk-in customer base. In addition to beefing up online sales tactics, another way to keep revenue flowing is to revive previously denied deals. By offering applicants a digital solution to improve their credit, dealerships can potentially increase their sales remotely.
How to Drum up Remote Revenue
Regardless of the times, the consumer market is still alive! If you’re looking to drum up remote revenue now or want to better prepare once open houses and test drives resume, ScoreShuttle has a solution. As a ScoreShuttle partner, you can offer your clients the tools to increase their scores and digitally improve their entire credit portfolio. You can use the software to tap into your previously declined database and set yourself up for higher close rates in the future. To learn more, click below to request a software demo.
From our families to yours, take care.
Disclaimer: The information above is general in nature and is not a comprehensive list of the details included in the CARES Act or the relief options that may be available. Links to third-party web sites are provided for convenience only. ScoreShuttle does not endorse nor support the content of third-party links and is not responsible for the content on their websites. By clicking on a third-party link, you will leave the ScoreShuttle site. Privacy and security policies may differ from those on ScoreShuttle.