Prestamos CDFI / Chicanos Por La Causa

Type: Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI); lending arm of a large Hispanic nonprofit. SBA-approved PPP lender of record.
Legal entities: Prestamos CDFI, LLC (the operating lender); parent Chicanos Por La Causa, Inc. (CPLC; Phoenix, Arizona nonprofit, founded 1969).
Founded / affiliation: Prestamos CPLC has administered lending programs since 1980. Prestamos CDFI, LLC is a division of CPLC.
HQ: Phoenix, AZ.
Leadership: David Adame, CPLC President and CEO from 2015 through October 2023 (departed; see below). Jose Martinez, President of Prestamos CDFI and CPLC Executive Vice President for Economic Development, is the executive publicly tied to the PPP program. Prestamos's April 14, 2021 Lender Service Provider agreement delegated "origination, marketing, underwriting, and funding of loans" to Blueacorn; the public record does not attribute the LSP signature or any individual loan decision to Martinez personally. Alicia Nuñez became CPLC's interim head after Adame and was named permanent President and CEO in April 2024 (Hoodline, Apr. 26, 2024).
Role in PPP: Lender of record. Named as a lending partner on Blueacorn's website in May 2020; its lender service provider agreement with Blueacorn is dated April 14, 2021, and in 2021 it was Blueacorn's largest partner lender by loan count.

In the archive

Pandemic-role map

Reader shorthand: CDFI lender of record for Blueacorn's largest small-dollar channel.
What Prestamos did for borrowers: approved and funded PPP loans to small borrowers, many of whom entered through Blueacorn's portal rather than through a conventional CDFI relationship.
What Prestamos bought from other companies: relied on Blueacorn for borrower-facing intake, document workflow, application screening, and volume; used PPPLF liquidity to fund the resulting book.
Where responsibility sat: Prestamos was the SBA lender of record and received the lender processing fee before sharing economics with the platform channel.

Before the pandemic (1969–early 2020)

Chicanos Por La Causa was founded in 1969 in Phoenix. By April 2024 it reported a budget exceeding $218 million and more than 2,000 employees (Hoodline, Apr. 26, 2024).

Prestamos is the lending arm. By the House Select Subcommittee's accounting, in its entire pre-2020 history Prestamos had issued approximately $50 million in loans total. It is a community lender for businesses and projects in low-income and distressed census tracts, serving predominantly Hispanic entrepreneurs and communities in Arizona and neighboring states. In 2020, its first year in the PPP program, it funded 925 loans.

During the pandemic (March 2020 – June 2021)

From 925 loans to 444,780

Before 2020, Prestamos had made "more than $50 million in loans supporting more than 400 businesses" since 2000, according to the House report.¹ Its parent, Chicanos Por La Causa, closed its main lobby to the public on March 17, 2020; its behavioral health programs moved to phone, text and video chat.²

The lender's first pandemic product was its own. The COVID-19 Microloan offered up to $25,000 at 6.5% interest with a 3% origination fee. In May 2020 the page said the SBA would make the first six payments and the rest would be repaid over six to twelve months.³ The live page still offers the same amount, fee and rate, without the SBA line.⁴ CPLC's COVID-19 site listed it beside PPP applications as one of "two COVID-19 small business relief programs."⁵

The PPP count grew slowly at first. On May 19, 2020, the announcement of a $5 million commitment from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona said Prestamos had supported 321 businesses with more than $11 million.⁶ Ten days later its own blog put the figure at 302 businesses and $10,623,689.73.⁷ In December, announcing a $5 million gift from MacKenzie Scott, it counted 1,028 businesses and $49.5 million in capital deployed since the pandemic began.⁸ The SBA's loan file shows 925 Prestamos PPP loans approved in 2020, worth $26,552,975.86.⁹

Then came one contract. On April 14, 2021, Prestamos signed a lender service provider agreement under which Blueacorn would handle "the origination, marketing, underwriting, and funding of loans."¹ Blueacorn told the Subcommittee it earned 70% of the SBA processing fee on each loan, with a tenth of its share held back until the borrower applied for forgiveness or the loan matured.¹ In the 103 days of 2021 before the signing, Prestamos approved 1,526 loans. From April 14 to its last approval on June 22 it approved 442,329, worth $6,787,071,993; 312,197 of them came in May.⁹

The SBA paid lenders a percentage of each loan, on a scale built to favor small loans.¹ Of the 444,780 loans, 444,485 were $50,000 or less, and estimated SBA processing fees on the book come to $1,055,074,365.58, about $2,372 a loan.⁹¹⁰ Most borrowers were one-person businesses: 91.2% were sole proprietors, independent contractors or self-employed, and 443,828 loans reported a single job.⁹ Georgia had the most loans, 52,037. Arizona, the lender's home state, had 9,508, or 2.1%.⁹

The House Select Subcommittee's 2022 staff report describes how the volume was checked; these are congressional findings, not court findings. Prestamos said it spot-checked loans at random, an effort that did not involve "digging into every file," and rejected an application "only if a flag arose." Asked whether it directed Blueacorn's fraud checks, its CEO answered, "No, we didn't." Its president said the CDFI was "not prepared for all the applications we received."¹

Prestamos's own accounts use other numbers. A statement online by March 2023 says it provided "over 400,000" loans, that its compliance program resulted in the denial of "57% of the initial PPP loan applications," and that 77.8% of its loans went to minority-owned businesses.¹¹ A November 2025 anniversary post says "our team processed $7.6 billion in approved loans" at an average of $15,526.¹² The SBA's May 31, 2021 approvals report credited Prestamos with 494,415 loans.¹ The September 2024 loan-level file lists 444,780 loans worth $6,849,909,471.86, an average of $15,400.67: 49,635 fewer loans than the approvals count.⁹ In that file, 81.8% of borrowers who answered the race or ethnicity questions were non-white or Hispanic; 60.1% of all Prestamos borrowers identified as Black and 8.9% as Hispanic or Latino.⁹ The statement does not say how many applications the 57% denial rate applies to.¹¹

By September 2024, 361,632 of the loans were marked paid in full, 43,812, approved for $722,780,613, were charged off, and 39,336 showed only "Exemption 4" in the status field. Forgiveness of $5,527,698,898.79 is recorded on 359,821 loans.⁹

Notes

U.S. House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, "We Are Not the Fraud Police" (December 1, 2022): printed pp. 22 (LSP agreement), 23 and nn. 152–153 ($700 million), 44 (pre-2020 lending, fee scale, spot checks, CEO and president quotes), 92 n. 119 (494,415), 95 n. 154 (Blueacorn's Jan. 12, 2022 letter on the 70% share). ↩
Chicanos Por La Causa, "Chicanos Por La Causa's highest priority is the health and safety" (COVID-19 letter, March 19, 2020) ↩
Prestamos, "Prestamos COVID Microloan for Coronavirus Relief" (May 3, 2020) ↩
Prestamos, "Prestamos COVID Microloan for Coronavirus Relief" (live page, retrieved September 26, 2026) ↩
CPLC, "Small Business Resources" (COVID-19 site, July 13, 2020) ↩
AZ Big Media, "BCBSAZ commits $5M to Chicanos Por La Causa for small business relief" (May 19, 2020) — original: https://azbigmedia.com/business/bcbsaz-commits-5m-to-chicanos-por-la-causa-for-small-business-relief/ ↩
Prestamos, "More PPP Funds: Another $10 Billion Dedicated Exclusively to CDFIs" (May 29, 2020) ↩
Prestamos, "$5 Million Award Will Help Invest in Underrepresented Communities of Color" (December 17, 2020) ↩
SBA PPP FOIA loan-level data, release through September 30, 2024 (13 files), OriginatingLender "Prestamos CDFI, LLC". Measured 2026-09-26. ↩
Estimate from the SBA PPP loan-level data at the program's fee schedules (method: PPP processing-fee schedules by vintage); the lender-fee table row "Prestamos CDFI, LLC". ↩
Prestamos, PPP statement page (first archived March 15, 2023) ↩
Prestamos, "Investing in People, Strengthening Communities: Celebrating 25 Years of Prestamos CDFI" (November 20, 2025) ↩

The Blueacorn channel

Blueacorn was founded in April 2020, the month PPP lending opened (the CARES Act had created the program on March 27), by Nathan Reis, Stephanie Hockridge, James Flores, and CTO Noah Spirakus. The product was an application wizard: borrowers entered their information through Blueacorn's intake portal; Prestamos processed and funded the resulting loans as lender of record; the SBA paid Prestamos its processing fee; and Prestamos shared a portion of that fee with Blueacorn under a Lender Service Provider Agreement (LSP arrangement). Blueacorn's own FAQ: "Is Blueacorn a bank? No. We're a Lender Service Provider." (FAQ capture, July 7, 2021)

2021

PPP reopened on January 11, 2021 under the Economic Aid Act's CDFI-first window, which gave community lenders exclusive access for the first two days. That day Crossroads Systems announced its Capital Plus Financial subsidiary would join the Blueacorn channel alongside Prestamos. Then, on March 3, 2021, the SBA issued an interim final rule allowing Schedule C sole proprietors to size PPP loans on gross rather than net income.

The SBA's approvals report through May 31, 2021 credited Prestamos with 494,415 loans. The Marshall v. Prestamos CDFI amended complaint uses the same count, with approximately $7.68 billion. The September 2024 loan-level file lists 444,780 loans and $6,849,909,471.86, 49,635 fewer loans.

The House Select Subcommittee report counted about 434,000 loans processed by Prestamos between April 14, 2021 and the end of round three in June 2021, against 925 PPP loans in all of 2020.

The CDFI priority window

The Biden administration's CDFI set-aside let CDFIs, Prestamos and Capital Plus among them, continue originating PPP loans through the program's close; its last approval in the SBA file is dated June 22, 2021 (10 approvals in June). The average Prestamos loan was roughly $15,400.

The Federal Reserve liquidity layer

Prestamos funded its loans through the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland's PPP Liquidity Facility. PPPLF data show Prestamos drew $7.17 billion in gross PPPLF advances, with a peak outstanding balance of $7.16 billion on August 11, 2021, against an origination book of about $6.85 billion. That 104.6% ratio (peak PPPLF vs. origination volume) reflects timing: PPPLF advances came in before every forgiveness repayment arrived. The estimated fee yield was approximately 14.7 cents per peak Fed dollar.

Fee economics and the Blueacorn split

Estimated SBA processing fees on Prestamos's book are approximately $1.055 billion.

The Blueacorn simplified cash-flow statement produced under subpoena to the House Select Subcommittee (Bates BA-SSCC-0000121-22) is the source of Blueacorn's total fee receipts from both CDFI partners — approximately $1.08 billion in the aggregate, with $700 million attributed to the Prestamos channel and $386 million to Capital Plus. That allocation is reported in the Subcommittee report. The figure has not been independently audited or confirmed against a Prestamos financial filing or

CPLC's fiscal-2021 Form 990.

After the pandemic (mid-2021 – present)

Marshall v. Prestamos CDFI (E.D. Pa., 5:21-cv-04337)

Borrowers alleged they applied, received SBA approval, signed promissory notes, and never received their money.

Per the complaint, named plaintiff Alicia Marshall, a Sacramento home-healthcare provider, applied April 21, 2021; the SBA approved April 22; she signed her promissory note April 29 for $7,915 and did not receive the funds. The complaint alleges the SBA portal showed "Status Disbursed" in August 2021 and that in September 2021 the SBA invited her to apply for PPP Direct Forgiveness.

The plaintiffs developed their theory across an original October 2021 complaint, a January 2022 amended complaint (11 named plaintiffs from 10 states), and a May 2022 second amended complaint that added CPLC as a defendant on an alter-ego theory. The theory: Prestamos approved and reported loans as funded via SBA Form 1502, collected the processing fees, drew the PPPLF advance from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, and then, when banks returned ACH disbursements for various flags, did not re-disburse, did not cancel the loan in the SBA system, and did not respond to borrowers who had no other route to PPP funds (the program barred duplicate applications).

Prestamos's defense: when banks returned funds with ACH codes flagging suspicious activity, Prestamos engaged Blueacorn to conduct due diligence; the loans failed the review; the non-funding was appropriate.

In the March 30, 2023 motion-to-dismiss opinion, Judge John M. Gallagher held that the breach-of-contract claim against Prestamos survived: the plaintiffs alleged Prestamos agreed to fund their loans, and the release language in the promissory note was ambiguous enough at that stage not to bar the claim. The California, Illinois, and Ohio state consumer-protection claims were dismissed. The CPLC alter-ego claim was allowed to proceed to jurisdictional discovery; the court described those allegations as "not frivolous".

Class certification was denied on April 29, 2025. Judge Gallagher cited the same reason the mirror case against Capital Plus (Greathouse v. Capital Plus, N.D. Tex.) failed: each borrower's ACH return arose from individualized circumstances, defeating commonality and typicality under Rule 23(a). The opinion called it "déjà vu" and cited Greathouse.

The case settled confidentially on September 9, 2025 and was dismissed without prejudice. Settlement terms are not public. No merits finding was made.

Prestamos in federal borrower-fraud cases

In United States v. Marcus Cobbs (S.D. Ala., 23-cr-00156), Cobbs pleaded guilty to a wire-fraud conspiracy. He submitted a fraudulent PPP application through Prestamos, claimed taxi/cab independent-contractor income of $98,000 (entirely fabricated), received a $20,415 loan, and Prestamos collected a $2,500 SBA lender fee. The funds went to a personal account with no business activity.

In United States v. Michelle Denise McIntyre (M.D. Ala., 2:24-cr-211), the December 8, 2025 restitution order names Prestamos as a victim. McIntyre ran a paid fraud-facilitation operation called "Finesse Services," charging clients $75–$100 per PPP application (plus kickbacks from proceeds) to help them fabricate applications across multiple programs. A PPP loan that Prestamos funded for a client identified as "T.W." was never forgiven. Under 18 U.S.C. § 3664(i)'s priority ordering, the restitution order requires McIntyre to pay $19,523.44 to Prestamos CDFI before the SBA receives payment on that loan.

SBA investigation announced December 2022; no charges to date

On December 8, 2022, eight days after the House Select Subcommittee released "We Are Not the Fraud Police," the SBA issued a statement saying it had "launched a full investigation" of eight lenders identified in or adjacent to the report: Blueacorn's two CDFI partners (Prestamos and Capital Plus), plus Cross River, Celtic, Customers, Fountainhead, Harvest, and Benworth.

No public enforcement action against Prestamos has appeared since: no charge, no civil penalty, no consent order, no suspension, no False Claims Act settlement. Capital Plus, which publishes financial statements, disclosed its own SBA review in them (see its profile); Prestamos has no equivalent public financial-disclosure obligation. After Adame's departure, Prestamos's outside counsel told the Arizona Republic that there was never an investigation, only a compliance review that concluded the lender "were cleared," and CPLC produced an SBA email stating Prestamos "remains a lender in good standing with SBA" (Arizona Republic via Yahoo, Oct. 7, 2023). The SBA's December 2022 statement used the words "full investigation."

No SBA closure letter or formal determination for Prestamos has been located.

David Adame's October 2023 departure

David Adame left as CPLC President and CEO in early October 2023; CPLC said he left "to pursue other opportunities" (Arizona Daily Independent, Oct. 5, 2023; Arizona Republic via Yahoo, Oct. 7, 2023). CFO Alicia Nuñez became interim head and was named permanent President and CEO in April 2024 (Hoodline, Apr. 26, 2024).

Where Prestamos does not appear

Criminal charge against Prestamos CDFI, LLC or CPLC — none located arising from PPP.
Civil fraud judgment against Prestamos — none. The Marshall breach-of-contract claim settled confidentially without merits finding.
False Claims Act settlement — none located.
SBA suspension — SBA suspended Blueacorn and Womply in December 2022; Prestamos was not suspended.
Federal bank-regulatory action — Prestamos is not a bank; it is not subject to OCC, Fed, FDIC, or NCUA oversight.
Public financial disclosure — CPLC is a nonprofit. There is no public-company financial record comparable to Crossroads Systems' OTC filings for Capital Plus. Prestamos figures derive from SBA-derived loan-level data and the Marshall complaint, not primary financial filings.

Current posture (as of mid-2026)

Prestamos CDFI, LLC continues to operate as an active CDFI out of Phoenix, providing small-business loans and technical assistance to underserved communities. The March 2026 NMTC award of $90 million, its eighth, is the most recent public milestone. CPLC, under Alicia Nuñez, was reported in April 2024 to have a budget above $218 million and more than 2,000 employees (Hoodline). No PPP-era enforcement action against Prestamos is pending in the public record.

Blueacorn — lender service provider for the Prestamos channel
Capital Plus Financial / Crossroads Systems — the other Blueacorn CDFI lender
Jose Martinez — President of Prestamos CDFI
Nathan "Nate" Reis — Blueacorn co-founder; pleaded guilty
Stephanie Hockridge (Reis) — Blueacorn co-founder; convicted of conspiracy

Sources

Primary documents in this archive

Chicanos Por La Causa, "Chicanos Por La Causa's highest priority is the health and safety" (COVID-19 letter, March 19, 2020) — original: https://prestamoscdfi.org/chicanos-por-la-causas-highest-priority-is-the-health-and-safety-covid-19/
Prestamos, "Prestamos COVID Microloan for Coronavirus Relief" (May 3, 2020) — original: https://web.archive.org/web/20200503113341id_/https://www.prestamosloans.org/covidmicro/
Prestamos, "Prestamos COVID Microloan for Coronavirus Relief" (live page, retrieved September 26, 2026) — original: https://prestamoscdfi.org/covidmicro/
CPLC, "Small Business Resources" (COVID-19 site, July 13, 2020) — original: https://web.archive.org/web/20200713003346id_/https://cplc.org/covid-19/small-business.php
Prestamos, "More PPP Funds: Another $10 Billion Dedicated Exclusively to CDFIs" (May 29, 2020) — original: https://prestamoscdfi.org/more-ppp-funds-another-10-billion-dedicated-exclusively-to-cdfis/
Prestamos, "$5 Million Award Will Help Invest in Underrepresented Communities of Color" (December 17, 2020) — original: https://prestamoscdfi.org/5-million-award-will-help-invest-in-underrepresented-communities-of-color/
Prestamos, PPP statement page (first archived March 15, 2023) — original: https://web.archive.org/web/20230315210635id_/https://prestamoscdfi.org/ppp/
Prestamos, "Investing in People, Strengthening Communities: Celebrating 25 Years of Prestamos CDFI" (November 20, 2025) — original: https://prestamoscdfi.org/investing-in-people-strengthening-communities-celebrating-25-years-of-prestamos-cdfi/
SBA PPP FOIA loan-level data — original: https://data.sba.gov/dataset/ppp-foia SBA PPP FOIA loan-level data (stored capture)
SBA-derived lender-fee table: lender_fees.csv — Prestamos loan count (444,780), principal ($6,849,909,471.86), fee estimate ($1,055,074,365.58), sub-$50k concentration (444,485 loans).
PPPLF tables: ppplf_by_lender.csv; ppplf_fee_join.csv — peak PPPLF $7.17B — PPPLF-to-origination ratio 104.6%; fee yield 14.7¢/peak-Fed-dollar.
Marshall v. Prestamos CDFI case summary — litigation chronology; litigation-source figures (494,415 loans / $7.68B); class-cert denial April 29, 2025; confidential settlement September 9, 2025.
Marshall amended complaint summary: CASE PAED 5-21-cv-04337 Marshall v Prestamos doc18 AMENDED COMPLAINT 2022-01-14.
MTD opinion text: GovInfo USCOURTS paed-5 21-cv-04337-0 — breach-of-contract survived; consumer-protection dismissed; CPLC jurisdictional-discovery only.
United States v. Marcus Cobbs case summary — fraudulent application through Prestamos; $20,415 funded; $2,500 fee.
United States v. Michelle Denise McIntyre case summary — $19,523.44 restitution to Prestamos as direct victim; December 8, 2025 restitution order.
David Adame profile — career arc; SBA posture; Adame departure and the two-versions-of-the-exit record.
Blueacorn Simplified Cash-Flow Statement (Bates BA-SSCC-0000121-22): characterized in the House Select Subcommittee report, Figure 2 — Blueacorn's total fee receipts from both CDFI partners, >$700M attributed to the Prestamos channel. Source is Blueacorn's own subpoenaed books; underlying exhibit not separately pinned to Prestamos case files.
House Select Subcommittee report, "We Are Not the Fraud Police" (Dec. 1, 2022): CONGRESS HOUSE Select Subcommittee We Are Not the Fraud Police Fintech PPP Fraud 2022-12-01

External references

ProPublica, "They Promised Quick and Easy PPP Loans. Often, They Only Delivered Hassle and Heartache" — Prestamos 925→494,415 loan-count figures; $7.7B / #1 by loan count: ProPublica, "They Promised Quick and Easy PPP Loans" — canceled Fountainhead loans (original: propublica.org · stored capture)
House Select Subcommittee press release on the FinTech PPP fraud report (Dec. 1, 2022) — DOJ referral; Prestamos ~$7.7B figure: U.S. House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, "How Fintechs Facilitated Fraud in the Paycheck Protection... (original: coronavirus-democrats-oversight.house.gov · stored capture)
SBA, "Statement on the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis Report" (Dec. 8, 2022) — "full investigation" of eight lenders: SBA, "Statement on the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis Report" Dec. 8, 2022 — "full investigation... (original: sba.gov · stored capture)
Arizona Republic (via Yahoo), "David Adame no longer in charge of Chicanos Por La Causa" (Oct. 7, 2023) — departure framing; lender's-counsel "cleared" claim; SBA "good standing" email: Arizona Republic via Yahoo, "David Adame no longer in charge of Chicanos Por La Causa" updated Oct. 7, 2023 — resigna... (original: yahoo.com · stored capture)
Arizona Daily Independent, "Allegations of fraud haunt Chicanos Por La Causa as Adame exits" (Oct. 5, 2023) — single-outlet, anonymous-source "financial malfeasance" allegation: Arizona Daily Independent, "Allegations of fraud haunt Chicanos Por La Causa as Adame exits" Oct. 5, 2023 — the singl... (original: arizonadailyindependent.com · stored capture)
ABC15 / Phoenix Business Journal, "Chicanos Por La Causa CEO David Adame resigns from organization" (Oct. 6, 2023): ABC15 / Phoenix Business Journal, "Chicanos Por La Causa CEO David Adame resigns from organization" Oct. 6, 2023 (original: abc15.com · stored capture)
Hoodline, "Alicia Nuñez breaks new ground as first female President & CEO of Chicanos Por La Causa" (Apr. 2024) — succession; CPLC scale: Hoodline, "Alicia Nuñez breaks new ground as first female President & CEO of … Chicanos Por La Causa" Apr. 2024 — suc... (original: hoodline.com · stored capture)
Prestamos CDFI, "$90 Million New Markets Tax Credit Award" (March 2026): Prestamos CDFI Receives $90 Million New Markets Tax Credit Award (original: digitaljournal.com · stored capture)
Prestamos CDFI website: About Prestamos CDFI, LLC (original: prestamoscdfi.org · stored capture)
New Markets Tax Credit Coalition, Jose Martinez bio (President, Prestamos CDFI): New Markets Tax Credit Coalition, Jose Martinez bio President, Prestamos CDFI; EVP Economic Development, CPLC — the e... (original: nmtccoalition.org · stored capture)