The Main Street Lending Program is designed to provide support to medium-sized and small businesses and their employees across the U.S. during the current period of financial strain. The program is designed to help credit flow to businesses that were in good financial condition but now need loans to help until they have recovered from, or adapted to, the impacts of the pandemic. The availability of additional credit is intended to help companies maintain their operations and payroll until conditions improve.
Loans originated under the program have several features that will help businesses facing challenges. The program offers four-year loans, with floating rates, and principal and interest payments deferred during the first year to assist businesses facing temporary cash flow interruptions. The loans range in size from $500,000 to $200 million — a wide range that may support a broad set of employers.
The program is aimed at lending to entities that are too big for the Small Business Administrations’ Paycheck Protection Program and too small for other emergency credit facilities. Such businesses are integral to the U.S. economy and create jobs for a large share of the U.S. workforce.
It is important to note that Main Street Lending differs from other programs because the issued loans must be repaid and require both the borrower and lender to be eligible to participate in the program.
To get started, businesses can review the program parameters prior to approaching a lender, and visit the borrower’s page for additional information. Lenders interested in the program can start at the lender’s page, where operational information will be posted as it becomes available.
Interested businesses will work with an eligible lender. The lender will determine whether a business is approved for a loan. The Fed will participate in the lending by purchasing an 85 percent or 95 percent interest in the loan, depending on the facility. To assist a broad range of borrowers, the program will offer three different loan types, each with somewhat different characteristics.
As there has been a lot of interest in the program, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston is hosting information sessions for borrowers and lenders. Please feel free to share this information with interested constituents.
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Audience
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Date
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Description
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Borrowers
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Friday, May 29, at 11:00 a.m. EST
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This webinar is an opportunity for potential borrowers in the Main Street Lending Program to learn more about the program and ask questions to senior officials from the Federal Reserve.
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Borrowers
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Wednesday, June 3, at 2:00 p.m. EST
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This drop-in session is an opportunity for potential borrowers in the Main Street Lending Program to ask questions about the program to senior officials from the Federal Reserve.
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Lenders
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Thursday, June 4, at 2:00 p.m. EST
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This webinar is an opportunity for potential lenders in the Main Street Lending Program to learn more details about the infrastructure and operations of the Main Street Lending Program.
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Additional Resources:
- The program’s operations website is now available at www.bostonfed.org/mslp. On this site, you can sign up to receive program updates by email.
- The Board of Governors’ website houses documentation of the program, notably FAQs and Term Sheets for the three facilities in the program: https://www.federalreserve.
gov/monetarypolicy/ mainstreetlending.htm. - The Boston Fed has a program mailbox where constituents can pose questions: mslp@bos.frb.org.
- A printable/downloadable PDF “one-pager” on the program is available at www.bostonfed.org/mslp-
overview.
Questions can be sent to MSLP@bos.frb.org. If you would like to speak to a member of the Philadelphia Fed’s outreach team, please contact Joe Budash at Joe.Budash@phil.frb.org.
