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Pandemic Darlings The pandemic economy, in original documents
Home Interactives Relief systems hub

Four relief programs, four different machines

PPP, COVID-EIDL, PPPLF, and Main Street ran on different rails and failed in different ways. This hub compares them by channel, geography, category, controls, and afterlife.

Reader Paths

  • Architecture: how the money moved.
  • Distribution: where and to what categories it went.
  • Controls: when verification arrived and what labels mean.
  • Afterlife: forgiveness, losses, collections, referrals, and recoveries.

Articles in this series

Ten articles, listed in reading order; each publishes as it clears review.

  • The Three Relief Machines
  • Fast Money, Late Controls
  • The $600 Billion Facility That Barely Lent
  • The Public Balance Sheet Behind Private Relief
  • Where Relief Went, Where Businesses Were
  • Restaurants, Contractors, Sole Proprietors, and the Relief Split
  • Fraud Numbers Are Not Loss Numbers
  • The Loan Book That Came Due
  • The Middlemen Map
  • The Next Emergency Should Start With the Cleanup

Chart Pack

00 to 10k760,55510k to 25k763,81725k to 50k503,30750k to 150k1,105,409150k to 500k293,892500k to 2m44,078Loan count00 to 10k760,55510k to 25k763,81725k to 50k503,30750k to 150k1,105,409150k to 500k293,892500k to 2m44,0780200k400k600k800k1M1.2MLoan count

Source: USASpending COVID EIDL prime-award files.

Chart as text
Size bucketPolicy regimeLoan dollarsLoan countPlotted
00 to 10k2020 150k cap period$4,043,235,090.57760,555760,555
10k to 25k2020 150k cap period$13,779,021,608.36763,817763,817
25k to 50k2020 150k cap period$18,685,337,104.85503,307503,307
50k to 150k2020 150k cap period$124,247,492,445.341,105,4091,105,409
150k to 500k2020 150k cap period$100,108,403,235293,892293,892
500k to 2m2020 150k cap period$57,617,858,15044,07844,078
Borrower size distribution by program
  1. Potential fraud: an estimate built from risk indicators, such as the SBA Inspector General's Report 23-09, COVID-19 Pandemic EIDL and PPP Loan Fraud Landscape.
  2. Likely fraud: loans that SBA or GAO reviewed and described as likely fraud.
  3. Referral: a loan or case passed to SBA's Inspector General, the Justice Department or the Treasury.
  4. Charge-off: a servicing and accounting status. It does not by itself show fraud.
  5. Loss: a credit loss. Main Street losses stay credit losses unless a case, audit or court record identifies fraud.
  6. Recovery: money recovered after it was paid out, counted apart from losses avoided.
  7. Conviction: a guilty plea or verdict in one case, cited to that case's own record.
Fraud label ladder: potential to proven
CA$66.1BNY$37.3BFL$36.8BTX$32.3BNJ$15.0BIL$13.6BGA$13.6BPA$9.5BBillions USDCA$66.1BNY$37.3BFL$36.8BTX$32.3BNJ$15.0BIL$13.6BGA$13.6BPA$9.5B$0B$25B$50B$75BBillions USD

Source: USASpending COVID EIDL prime-award files.

Chart as text
StateState nameLoansLoan face valuePlotted
CACALIFORNIA554,082$66,101,248,374.17$66.1B
NYNEW YORK322,080$37,254,963,500.52$37.3B
FLFLORIDA462,200$36,789,395,944.78$36.8B
TXTEXAS316,796$32,255,613,859.53$32.3B
NJNEW JERSEY126,031$15,022,780,275$15.0B
ILILLINOIS140,731$13,631,258,778.96$13.6B
GAGEORGIA180,375$13,620,514,613.51$13.6B
PAPENNSYLVANIA97,315$9,530,020,293.04$9.5B
COVID-EIDL loan face value: the top 8 states
Accommodation and food services12.5% of Main Street volume$2.18BManufacturing9.8% of Main Street volume$1.71BReal estate and rental and leasing9.5% of Main Street volume$1.66BMining, quarrying, and oil and gasextraction8.4% of Main Street volume$1.47BBillions USDAccommodation and food services12.5% of Main Street volume$2.18BManufacturing9.8% of Main Street volume$1.71BReal estate and rental and leasing9.5% of Main Street volume$1.66BMining, quarrying, and oil and gasextraction8.4% of Main Street volume$1.47B$0B$0.5B$1B$1.5B$2B$2.5BBillions USD

Source: “Uptake of the Main Street Lending Program” (FEDS Notes, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, April 16, 2021).

Chart as text
NAICS sector% of volumeSource (file column)Main Street dollarsPlotted
Accommodation and food services12.5FEDS Note 2021-04-16$2,180,000,000$2.18B
Manufacturing9.8FEDS Note 2021-04-16$1,710,000,000$1.71B
Real estate and rental and leasing9.5FEDS Note 2021-04-16$1,660,000,000$1.66B
Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction8.4FEDS Note 2021-04-16$1,470,000,000$1.47B
NOTE: 71.4 pct of volume went to COVID-affected industries (FEDS Note 2021-04-16)
Main Street Lending Program loan dollars in the 4 industries the FEDS Note reports
Capacity$600.0BLoans$17.5BBillions USDCapacity$600.0BLoans$17.5B$0B$200B$400B$600BBillions USD

Sources: Main Street Lending Program and PPPLF transaction disclosures (loans); The Fourth Report of the Congressional Oversight Commission (capacity).

Chart as text
MeasureDollarsWhere the figure comes fromPlotted
Capacity$600,000,000,000“$600 billion lending capacity” (The Fourth Report of the Congressional Oversight Commission)$600.0B
Loans$17,459,024,460TOTAL row of the loan-by-loan workbook's facility table (1,830 loans)$17.5B
Main Street Lending Program uptake
2020-04$0.8B2020-05$86.3B2020-06$122.4B2020-07$56.6B2020-08$24.0B2020-09$5.3B2020-10$3.8B2020-11$3.3B2020-12$4.7B2021-01$4.4B2021-02$2.8B2021-03$3.6BBillions USD2020-04$0.8B2020-05$86.3B2020-06$122.4B2020-07$56.6B2020-08$24.0B2020-09$5.3B2020-10$3.8B2020-11$3.3B2020-12$4.7B2021-01$4.4B2021-02$2.8B2021-03$3.6B$0B$25B$50B$75B$100B$125BBillions USD

Source: USASpending COVID EIDL prime-award files.

Chart as text
MonthLoansLoan face valuePlotted
2020-042,697$788,534,500$0.8B
2020-05612,773$86,318,504,904$86.3B
2020-061,324,345$122,386,488,396.87$122.4B
2020-07932,952$56,603,939,761.51$56.6B
2020-08363,684$24,044,716,374.62$24.0B
2020-0958,671$5,342,511,770$5.3B
2020-1031,781$3,774,835,297$3.8B
2020-1124,924$3,287,234,736.02$3.3B
2020-1234,537$4,717,214,014.10$4.7B
2021-0134,873$4,430,095,526$4.4B
2021-0220,623$2,804,069,941$2.8B
2021-0326,209$3,568,613,957$3.6B
COVID-EIDL money out by month, April 2020 to March 2021
Gross advances$198.6BSum lender peaks$138.5BBillions USDGross advances$198.6BSum lender peaks$138.5B$0B$50B$100B$150B$200BBillions USD

Source: Federal Reserve §11(s) PPPLF transaction-specific disclosures (monthly releases); see Main Street Lending Program and PPPLF transaction disclosures.

Chart as text
MeasureDollarsHow it is computedPlotted
Gross advances$198,613,795,052.10sum of total gross advances over the 787 lenders in the lender table$198.6B
Sum lender peaks$138,546,185,987.86sum of each of the 787 lenders' own peak outstanding balance (peaks fall on different dates)$138.5B
PPP Liquidity Facility (PPPLF) support
PPP$792.6BEIDL loans$370.3BMSLP$17.5BBillions USDPPP$792.6BEIDL loans$370.3BMSLP$17.5B$0B$200B$400B$600B$800BBillions USD

Sources: SBA PPP FOIA loan-level files (PPP); USASpending COVID EIDL prime-award files (EIDL); Main Street Lending Program and PPPLF transaction disclosures (MSLP).

Chart as text
ProgramDollarsWhat it measuresPlotted
PPP$792,601,069,043.55sum of approved loan dollars over the 4,689 lenders in the lender fee table$792.6B
EIDL loans$370,261,964,896.12validated face value of COVID-EIDL direct loans, the EIDL explorer's total$370.3B
MSLP$17,459,024,460TOTAL row of the loan-by-loan workbook's facility table (1,830 loans)$17.5B
Program scale compared

Methods

A data dictionary defines each program’s fields and coding; a claim-boundaries note sets what counts as a claim in each program; a denominator plan documents how population totals were chosen for the rates used across this series; a source inventory lists the underlying files. This page is an index: every figure sits in the articles and charts it links to.

In the archive: PPP guide · EIDL guide · Relief actor map · Verified by fax: the controls timeline · All interactives

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