At the Federal Reserve, Chairman Jerome Powell announced the Main Street Lending Program (MSLP) created in the CARES Act will go online in a matter of days.
In April, the Fed announced they were creating the MSLP designed to assist smaller to medium-sized businesses that fell through the cracks of other government assistance programs. As part of this lending program, the Fed will buy up to 95 percent of a loan from an issuing bank. The program will be open to companies with up to 15,000 employees or less than $5 billion in revenue last year. Companies will be able to receive up to $25 million in new loans or refinance up to $200 million in existing loans if a company’s total debt is below certain thresholds. Principal and interest payments on the loans would be deferred for one year, and the loans will have a 4-year maturation period. The program will be backed by credit protection from the Treasury Department included in the CARES Act.