Loan-Relief Rule Changes Leave Confused Small Businesses at Risk (1)

Marnie Howell thought she did everything right.

As the coronavirus pandemic worsened, she crunched numbers and strategized how to keep her Crystal Lake, Ill.-based flooring company afloat. She ended up applying for a government-backed loan under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in early April, which provided enough to keep her half-century-old company, Howell’s Flooring and More, open.

Over the next eight weeks, Howell spent the money meticulously to comply with the program’s myriad forgiveness requirements. But new conditions for the loans have left Howell and many other companies in the lurch.

“I thought here I did everything I was ...