Financial assistance resources for Peerspace Hosts

Peerspace Updates
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To the Peerspace Host community-

During this time of uncertainty for many Peerspace hosts, we hope to provide you with helpful resources to navigate your options. Our goal remains to partner with our host community to give us all the best chance to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic on solid footing.

Easy SBA loan applications for eligible Peerspace hosts:

As you may know, the Small Business Administration has announced details around the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) that allows your business to access up to $10M in funding, with record-low interest rates and possible loan forgiveness. Here are some of the highlights:

  • Loan forgiveness: When you use the funds to pay qualified expenses such as payroll, mortgage interest rent or utilities.
  • Low interest rates: Rates are fixed at 1.0%.
  • Deferred payments: No payments for 6 months.

Peerspace has partnered with Womply, a verified loan agent for SBA 7(a) lenders, to help you get through the PPP application process as quickly and easily as possible. Womply has already accepted thousands of PPP applications. All PPP loans have identical terms set by the government so what matters most is how fast businesses get funded.

This service is completely free to small businesses. The Womply team is standing by ready to help businesses understand the process and access capital fast.

Apply Now

Lost income reports for cancelled Peerspace bookings:

Many hosts are working through the SBA programs, local assistance programs, or their bank on various financing options. During due diligence, your lender may ask you for proof of lost income due to cancellation of Peerspace bookings during lockdown periods.

Upon request, Peerspace is happy to provide you with a statement of cancelled bookings for your host account this year. Information we can provide:

  • Your cancelled bookings by start date
  • Original payment amount
  • Can be grouped by each space on your account

In order to receive this report, please submit a request to our Customer Experience team who will deliver you a .CSV report. We will need you to send the request from the email address of the host account you are inquiring about. Please expect 24 to 48 hour turnaround time.

Contact Peerspace

We want to keep you informed as the impacts surrounding COVID-19 continue to evolve. Please stay tuned for future updates, and continue to connect with other hosts on this forum. We are interested in hearing about how you are handling the lockdowns and the resourceful tactics you are putting in place to get through this period.

Thank you for your continued support. We are in this together!

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Thanks Matt. What should we enter for the NAICS code? I imagine I can enter for photographer (541922), or in this case a code for an event venue. Do you know what that would be?

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Hi Brad, I wish I could give you some guidance there but really can’t. I’d speak with your accountant or bank before applying to make sure you file correctly. You may also be able to call Womply customer support to help you with this part.

Sincerely wish all hosts the best of luck with this effort.

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The multi-page Womply form requires you to enter numbers into a “calculator” that must be downloaded, some kind of spreadsheet app that apparently won’t function on my MacBook. Now that I’m on a mailing list (even though I couldn’t finish the form) I’ve started receiving pushy emails from an outfit called “Cross River Instant Funding” (not Womply). I replied to one of them about the nonworking form, but no answer yet.

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I had problems with the initial Womply application last night and contacted them. They said they identified the problem on their end and sent me this link:

https://www.docusign.net/Member/PowerFormSigning.aspx?PowerFormId=5806a2c0-3dbc-4b63-851f-9c192577e302&env=na1&acct=ad94e9e0-0409-4fc1-8a52-33b78bf2bdae

I answered a few basic questions, then it took me to a Docusign PDF. Read the first two pages (but you cannot enter information there). Then complete pages 3-6. I did not see the calculator you mentioned @Warren_D.

For payroll as a sole proprietor I took my Adjust Gross Income and divided by 12 for the monthly amount. I also was told that Self-Employment Tax is part of payroll, so I likewise took that amount and divided by 12 and added to payroll. No guarantees if that is correct, but that is my interpretation at this point. Trying to sort this all out is exhausting.

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Hi Warren, sounds like you were ahead of me. I completed the Womply application, then was notified that I was approved to go to the next step. This morning I completed the application with the calculator. It wasn’t clear to me, and I had some technical problems, but I did manage to get through it. If you have any particular hurdles, I am happy to see if I can help. You can DM me here, or better yet, email me at studio@bradbuckman.com.

I got through the spreadsheet, then uploaded a number of documents: driver’s license, voided check, bank statements, 2019 taxes, and a couple other things. I should hear back within 72 hours.

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Any luck? Still working on my application

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The Womply application was in two stages: general application, then they refer you to a bank for the full application, where you upload needed documents. I have done both, and am supposed to hear in the next day or two.

NOTE: I also started the application process with Bank of America when they opened it up on Friday. While filing with the Womply-referred bank, they stressed that you should only apply to one lender as multiples could flag a possible fraud. I am hoping that since I only completed the preliminary application with BofA, it won’t be a problem.

Just this morning I received word from BofA that I can upload documents, which I will wait to do until I hear about the other.

I also just received a response regarding my EIDL application, but that is sounding less interesting.

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Nice. Same here. Is the EIDL just a loan, or does it have loan forgiveness as well so that you dont have to pay it back? (Or a portion of it?)

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[received today]

Dear Applicant,

On March 29, 2020, following the passage of the CARES Act, the SBA provided small business owners and non-profits impacted by COVID-19 with the opportunity to obtain up to a $10,000 Advance on their Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL). The Advance is available as part of the full EIDL application and will be transferred into the account you provide shortly after your application is submitted. To ensure that the greatest number of applicants can receive assistance during this challenging time, the amount of your Advance will be determined by the number of your pre-disaster (i.e., as of January 31, 2020) employees. The Advance will provide $1,000 per employee up to a maximum of $10,000.

You may be eligible for another loan program, the Paycheck Protection Program , which is available through participating lenders.
= = = =

Note: EIDL funds received will be SUBTRACTED from the PPP amount you qualify for, so it could lower the amount of your loan that is forgivable.

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Hi Matt. I appreciate you recommending a source for lenders, but am quite frustrated. I applied to Cross River via Womply on Saturday, and have still received no acknowledgment, status update, request for clarification or additional information, nothing. They said we would hear within 72 hours.

We are told we can only apply to one lender at a time. I have a relationship with Bank of America and they are asking me daily to submit my documents. I also have a relationship with PayPal and understand they are offering the loans as well. Meanwhile funding for the PPP loans may be gone already. But applying to another lender could kill my chances of getting the loan.

I see on Reddit and elsewhere online that others are having the same frustration. You stated that Peerspace had partnered with Womply, and I would very much appreciate if you can stress to them that they need to communicate with us.

Anyone have suggestions, success stories, anything to share?

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Hi Brad,

We are in the same situation. Also doubting what to do since our bank, Capital one, has also offered to help and seems they are processing applications way faster (based on updates from other colleagues that are working with them). We had a very strange phone call with a customer service agent from Womply, were she got us even more confused instead of answering our questions, and that’s the last we heard.

It would be very much appreciated if someone could give us some guidance.

Thank you
Eduard

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Just received the following from Womply. At least it suggests my application has moved to a next stage, and the rep was thoughtful in his reply. - Brad

"I understand your frustration and sincerely apologize. I just checked in on your application through Cross River, and it is in the “Produce Offers” stage now, which does mean they are actively working on your loan in the final approval stage.

"From my personal position in the company I have no communication with Cross River, or I assure you I would reach out. We, along with the lending companies are working through a very high volume of inquiries, and we are working to get each business owner the help they need ASAP.

"Please don’t hesitate to reach out if they have not contacted you soon, and remember to be keeping an eye on your email inbox, spam folder, etc. for that communication.

“Thank you for your patience.”

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Hi Brad. Totally understand your frustration. It seems over 1.5M small businesses have been processed by the SBA which has quickly exhausted the PPP program. My wife is a small business owner and is also somewhere in the queue of applicants that do not know if they have been approved in this batch, or in a hopeful follow-on that Congress may authorize in the future.

I did pass your note onto the team at Womply and they assured us they are working around the clock to do whatever they can to service applications to Cross River and on to the SBA. Here is a notice they provided us:

For customers that have already applied through a Womply lender : We’ve deployed our support team to augment our lenders’ staff so we can process applications faster. We’ve directed our team to stop providing individual status updates on applications and to only reach out to individual applicants if we need them to fix something in their application. Given the choice we want to process their loans instead of telling them about them. We will continue to provide general updates here.

I don’t personally know what the implications are for applying with multiple lenders and am not remotely qualified to give advice in this area, but I could see a scenario where it creates delays if multiple applications tied to the same business come through to the SBA. Not really sure what the answer is here, afraid the opaqueness is a result of this being a very new, rushed process in the wake of COVID-19.

I wish you and all other hosts applying through PPP the best of luck. Though we have partnered with Womply, there is certainly no obligation for you to use them as your loan vehicle. If you have a banking relationship who is offering assistance, it’s worth at least hearing them out. We are all holding out hope that more funding for this program will be announced soon and that any other applications still in the queue will quickly get pushed into that round.

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Thanks Matt. It is definitely a challenge (for me) to balance patience with also striving to do everything I can on all fronts. We are hearing from just a few hosts here on the boards, and I would love to know if others are applying for relief, any tips, and if people have received funds (Stimulus, UI, EIDL, PPP, other?). I will share what I find when I hopefully get to a next step.

Here’s to good health and sanity, - Brad

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GOOD NEWS (for me anyway). I applied for the PPP loan with Cross River via Womply on Sat April 11. I was frustrated that I was not hearing anything from the bank, but representatives from Womply were responsive.

I received a contract on Sat April 18. I completed that via Docusign. It had me initial and sign the original agreement, and had a separate loan agreement to complete, initial and sign. To my pleasant surprise, the funds arrived in my account this morning. One of the biggest challenges in these times is the unknown, so I am happy to report that Womply and Cross River came through for me. Thank you @Matthew_B and @peerspace-team for the referral.

I don’t know if anyone is accepting new applications, but keep trying. And try to be ready for the second round of loans once funded. Main question moving forward will be how do we track and prove that the funds were spent as specified.

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That’s great to hear @Brad_B. Looks like Congress authorized +$300B more for small business loans, so if your application was in the queue, it is likely that you will see traction on it soon. Hang in there, everyone!

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Excerpt from Washington Post: Senate passes $484 billion bill that would expand small business aid, boost money for hospitals and testingThe House plans to vote on the measure Thursday. It would replenish Paycheck Protection Program, which was overrun with applications. By Erica Werner and Seung Min Kim April 21, 2020 at 2:40 p.m. PDT

The Senate passed a $484 billion deal on Tuesday to replenish a small business loan program that’s been overrun by demand, and also devote more money for hospitals and coronavirus testing. President Trump said he would sign it into law. The legislation, which came together after a bitter partisan stalemate followed by days of intense negotiations, would increase funding for the Paycheck Protection Program by $310 billion. It would boost a separate small business emergency grant and loan program by $60 billion, and direct $75 billion to hospitals and $25 billion to a new coronavirus testing program.

The House is expected to approve the measure on Thursday.
And it may be just the beginning. Speaking on the Senate floor shortly before the legislation passed by voice vote, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said lawmakers needed to quickly begin work on another piece of legislation that would match the size and scope of the $2 trillion Cares Act that was passed late last month. - Jeff Stein contributed to this article.

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As you may have heard, additional funding for the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program has been approved and government systems will start processing loan applications again within the next 24 hours. Several Peerspace hosts have reported successful funding of their small business loans through our ongoing partnership with Womply.

If you were unable to successfully submit an application, or if you have already submitted through another source, but have not received a status update, we strongly encourage you to re-apply. Experts are forecasting that the next round of funding will be depleted within 24 hours.

Womply is currently accepting and processing applications and we strongly suggest that businesses apply now so their applications are submitted and completed before the SBA’s technical systems are live again.

The application is completely free to small businesses. The Womply team is standing by ready to help businesses understand the process and take advantage of these funds while they’re still available.

Apply Now

When your application gets to the underwriting stage, it is possible that they will request records of past payments from Peerspace as well as some understanding of lost income due to pandemic cancellations.

Upon request, Peerspace is happy to provide you with a statement of cancelled bookings for your host account this year. Information we can provide:

  • Your cancelled bookings by start date
  • Original payment amount
  • Can be grouped by each space on your account

In order to receive this report, please submit a request to our Customer Experience team who will deliver you a .CSV report. Please expect 24 to 48 hour turnaround time.

Contact Peerspace Support

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