Consumer complaint received 2023-05-04
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: OK
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Other debt
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Attempted to collect wrong amount

Complaint:
To Whom It May Concern, I am submitting this letter as an explanation to my appeal for full forgiveness of the SBA Loan I received for XXXX XXXX, XXXX. I apologize for the appeal being past the XXXX deadline. I was told by a Bank of America representative that any appeals to the SBA had to be submitted by Bank of America, and long after the 30 days had passed, I was informed by another Bank of America representative that Bank of America does not submit appeals for forgiveness to the SBA. For this reason, I ask that you still consider my appeal even though the 30 days has passed as I had no opportunity to appeal because I was told that the appeal could only be submitted by the lender ( Bank of America. ) I originally received a PPP loan in the amount of {$87000.00}. I applied for these PPP funds at the start of the program and believed that I could use wages and 1099 labor costs paid for by XXXX XXXX, XXXX in the calculation of the amount I would receive. I believed that I could use 1099 labor cost because Bank of America sent me an email telling me to gather payroll information and independent XXXX costs for XXXX. ( Please see attached email from Bank of America ) I received the aforementioned email from Bank of America on XX/XX/XXXX. The date of receiving the email is important because seven days later I received the funds of {$87000.00}. I originally submitted my forgiveness application for the full {$87000.00} as I was still under the belief that you could use 1099 labor costs for forgiveness and was told by Bank of America that they would not submit the forgiveness application as only W-2 wages were eligible for forgiveness. I explained to them that seven days before I received the PPP loan, I received an email from them stating that they would need XXXX payroll and independent XXXX costs for XXXX. The Bank of America representative that I was speaking with and whom I sent a copy of the email to stated that the email was referencing 1099 Income for sole proprietors. This simply is not true. The email clearly states, independent XXXX costs for XXXX. This email made no reference to independent XXXX income/gross receipts and can only be interpreted as independent contract expenses that were paid. I would like to make special reference that when they said costs in that email, they could not possible have meant income. After hours on the phone explaining to Bank of America representatives, I was told that my only option was to submit a forgiveness application for just the W-2 wages paid during the covered period. I was told that once that forgiveness application had been processed by the SBA that not only would Bank of America submit an appeal on my behalf for the additional amount that I received for contract labor expense, but also that only Bank of America was allowed to submit the appeal. As I have stated above, I found out later that this was not true and that I was the one who had to submit the application. I was conveniently informed of this after the XXXX appeal deadline had passed. 
If independent XXXX expenses were not allowed to be used to acquire PPP loan funds, then Bank of America should not have let my application go through for {$87000.00}. There are only XXXX possible reasons that Bank of America let my loan application go through. Either Bank of America submitted my PPP loan application knowing it was wrong, or Bank of America was also of the belief that you could use independent XXXX costs to apply for PPP funds and forgiveness. I believe the most likely scenario is that Bank of America believed, just as I did, that you could use independent XXXX expenses. I believe this is the most likely scenario because as I have referred to earlier in this explanation that they sent me an email just seven days before giving me the PPP funds that you could use independent XXXX expenses. Either way I was misled to believe this was the case by Bank of America, and now am required to pay back nearly {$75000.00}. If I had known at the time that you couldnt use contract labor expenses for PPP, I would not have used those expenses when applying for the loan. I thought that PPP was created to help small businesses through a terrible economic time. Having to pay back the unforgiven amount of the loan is a bigger detriment to my business than if I had never received the loan in the first place. I was clearly misled on what could be used to obtain PPP Funds and later Forgiveness. Please take the facts I have stated above into consideration. I ask that because of the facts I have stated above you forgive the full amount of {$87000.00} that I was funded under the PPP Program because I was mislead on what could be used for funding and would never have applied for the funds if I had known that the amounts would end up not being forgiven. 




Thank you for your consideration, XXXX XXXX

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation