Overturned by COVID-19, Wayzata florist got federal loan … then the wait began

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Liz Mattingly had to wait two months for the $ 19,905 she was entitled to collect under the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program.

The store owner should have collected the money 10 days after the loan was approved by the US Small Business Administration, which would have allowed him to rehire his workers on leave earlier and get them out of unemployment.

But Mattingly’s bank, Wells Fargo, did not notify her of the approval and subsequently refused to release the funds due to a problem in its application. Other clients of large banks have also complained of delays in obtaining their funds.

“I think it’s because we had a small loan and we’re a small business,” said Mattingly, owner of Lilia Flower Boutique in Wayzata. “We are unimportant. They make it really obvious to you.

In a written statement, Wells Fargo spokesperson Steve Carlson said the bank is sometimes unable to move forward with financing a PPP loan when it cannot confirm that all loan requirements have been met. fulfilled.

“We are sorry for the hardship this has caused Ms. Mattingly,” Carlson said in the statement. “We cannot comment on the specific details of a client’s situation.”

Mattingly started her business nine years ago, and it was just having its best year – with $ 500,000 in sales – when COVID-19 hit Minnesota. Although his shop was allowed to remain open, Mattingly said his event business was collapsing as couples postponed weddings and restaurants were closed statewide. She applied for a PPP loan in April.

“We’ve lost about 50% of our income to weddings,” said Mattingly, whose store typically makes $ 150,000 in wedding arrangements every summer. “People aren’t canceling us, but they’re rescheduling, and a lot of this work won’t happen until 2021.”

Mattingly’s small store only has two full-time employees, and she sent them home in late March, shortly after the governor issued her first stay-at-home order. Florists were allowed to remain open for deliveries as they were deemed “critical” to the economy.

She expected her retail business to collapse, but the store remained surprisingly busy. Mattingly said his online sales have tripled as customers place large orders for birthdays and anniversaries instead of taking a loved one to dinner.

But along with her employees at home, Mattingly, who is pregnant, and her husband, Julian, had to do all the work.

“It’s been two really crazy months,” said Mattingly, who is due to deliver her first baby in July. “We worked 12 and 14 hours a week. “

Mattingly wanted to rehire his employees soon after Mother’s Day, but his P3 application was put on hold when the program ran out of money in mid-April. On April 25, after Congress agreed to make an additional $ 310 billion available to small business owners, Wells Fargo emailed them telling them the bank would submit their documents soon.

“These are truly unprecedented times that we know are impacting you and your business, and we will continue to partner and communicate with you throughout this crisis,” Wells Fargo said in the E-mail.

Mattingly was eagerly awaiting a letter of approval when a regular customer walked into his store in early June. The customer wanted to know when the store would be open during normal hours instead of closing at 3 p.m. Julian told him that couldn’t happen until they got their PPP money. That’s when Mattingly’s luck changed.

The client was Annalize Phillips, wife of U.S. Representative Dean Phillips, who had just persuaded her colleagues to pass a law giving business owners more time to use their PPP money. Until that happened, businesses faced a June 30 deadline for spending the funds.

“She said, ‘Don’t worry, my husband just asked the government to sign a new law. Everything will be fine, ”Mattingly recalled.

The conversation lit a fire under the Mattingly, who decided it was time to try and apply for a P3 loan from another bank. On the recommendation of a friend, they chose Crown Bank, which re-applied last week only to find that the SBA had already approved a loan for Mattingly’s business through Wells Fargo.

To clear up the confusion, Crown Bank vice president Lisa Perlman said she spoke last week with Martin Beetler, senior manager of the Wells Fargo branch in Wayzata. She said Beetler told her the bank could not release the funds because the SBA approved the loan for Mattingly’s company, EM Enterprises, which was different from the business name of her bank account, “Elizabeth Mattingly DBA Le Flower of Lilia “.

“It’s an easy thing to fix,” said Perlman, who created a new bank account for Mattingly that matches the name on his application. “But no one was telling them what the problem was.”

Beetler declined to comment, referring all questions to Wells Fargo.

“I’ve been depositing checks payable to EM Enterprises for years, and they never said anything,” Mattingly said. “But now the name is a problem all of a sudden? “

Mattingly said Wells Fargo offered no solution to the dilemma. So she asked the bank to officially cancel her loan application and change accounts. Crown Bank re-applied for Mattingly on June 12. The SBA approved the deal three days later and Crown Bank deposited $ 19,905 into its new account on Tuesday. Mattingly said his employees were back to work the same day.

“I think if we hadn’t made an effort to figure it out, we would think we were still waiting for the SBA to approve us,” Mattingly said. “We can’t be the only ones they’ve done this to.”

Wells Fargo declined to say how many PPP applicants waited more than 10 days for their funds.

Representative Phillips said he has heard complaints from other Minnesota companies that have struggled to get their share of the PPP money. “I really commend our community bankers for their commitment,” he said.

At Crown Bank, which processed 250 PPP loans totaling $ 36 million, 200 of those loans were to new customers, Perlman said.

“They left the big banks like Wells Fargo because they couldn’t do it there,” Perlman said.

Entrepreneurs have until June 30 to apply for a PPP loan.

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