Collectors Universe (read PSA)

[MooseDog]

Hmm...I just took a very quick look at the CU financials and they reported in Feb to have about $24M in cash and receivables on the books. Clearly they didn't NEED the $4M but what the heck, if the government's giving it away we'll take it, eh?

I hope at least the money goes to putting all the graders and staff back to work as it is supposed to, but I kind of think that $4M is more than needed to keep those folks in magnifiers. Expect the execs will all be made whole with plenty left over.

MEANWHILE, I have a very small one-person company. When the bill was first announced it sounded like exactly what was needed, money for small business owners to either keep paying employees even if they don't actually open, and help with rent.

I did everything "right" and got in fast. My loan amount was for less than 10K. Was left hanging by my bank (Chase) from the first round, then actually turned down by two lenders (this is a guaranteed loan, remember, no risk to the bank) for round 2. One said I hadn't been in business long enough (not true, 3.5 years is longer than required) and the other gave no reason.

Then the sh*t hits the fan about Chase and the other big banks prioritizing their existing customers and letting them get to the front of the line. I see a couple of the public companies that Chase funded got the money before Chase even started taking apps from people like me...Hmm. That certainly explains why Chase wasn't taking apps until like 2-3 days after they were allowed.

There are about 9 self-employed folks in my circle. Men, women, minorities, non-minorities, a very diverse group. All applied, only 1 got funded (just happened to be the one Caucasian in the group BTW ) This seems to mirror the demand nationwide but all of the requests from my circle were for $25K or less. So far in round 2 no one else has gotten funded.

I'm going take a huge hit as I won't have any income for at least two months, possibly up to six, and it's entirely possible I won't have any clients to go back to. I think I'll be OK, I'm pretty resourceful but it's like starting over again at the age of 60 and getting hired at a decent job is probably not going to happen in this environment. I think three of those in my circle will manage OK but I suspect up to 5 of them are going to have to close their businesses and basically lose everything they've built.

This was supposed to be a lifeline for "small", really small businesses but it didn't work out that way and they didn't fix it for round 2. If you play by the rules this is free money thanks to the government, and while the very small number of truly small businesses did get the lifeline, over half the money went to big companies and is STILL going to them.

Most self-employed folks are not eligible for unemployment. Some states like California are now allowing SE and gig workers to apply, which I have done, but the state departments handling claims are just getting hammered.

This is not a dem vs repub thing. EVERYONE involved at the government level screwed this up.

But has become very clear that some pigs are more equal than others.