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Truist Bank

Lender or loan platform

PPP
Type
Company or group
Role
Lender or loan platform
Programs
PPP
Updated

The profile

Formed by the BB&T–SunTrust merger four months before PPP opened, Truist lent $16.2 billion in 117,956 PPP loans. Its own slides put its PPP revenue, fees and interest together, at $692 million.

  • Type: State-chartered bank; PPP lender
  • Parent: Truist Financial Corporation

In the archive

Truist Bank made 117,956 Paycheck Protection Program loans for $16.2 billion, fourth among all lenders by dollars, in the SBA's loan file.1 Most of its program happened in the first two weeks. The SBA approved 30,653 Truist loans for $8.86 billion between April 6 and April 16, 2020, when the first appropriation ran out: 71 percent of the dollars Truist lent that year.1 Priced loan by loan under the SBA's fee schedule, its book carries about $588.5 million in processing fees.12 Truist never published a fee total, but an appendix to its earnings presentations listed "PPP Revenue" by quarter; the nine quarters from April 2020 through June 2022 add to $692 million, interest and fees together.3 How Much Did Truist Make From Pandemic Relief? separates the two.

A new bank in a hurry

BB&T and SunTrust merged on December 6, 2019.4 Truist "created an online, automated process for the Paycheck Protection Program and began to accept applications during the first weekend of the program."5 Its first-quarter slides reported loans "Authorized for 32K companies."6 It took applications only from existing customers with business banking accounts, a limit it shared with PNC among the eight lenders a House Select Subcommittee examined.7 By June 30, 2020 it called itself the "Third largest PPP lender based on gross fundings."8

Bigger loans, faster

The Subcommittee wrote to chairman and chief executive Kelly King on June 15, 2020 that it was "investigating whether implementation of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has favored large, well-funded companies over struggling small businesses in underserved communities."9 Its October staff report, using Truist's data through July 31, 2020, gave average days from application to funding of 17.9 for loans over $5 million and 35.5 for loans of $100,000 and under; applicants with five or fewer employees waited 33.5 days on average.7 The Subcommittee's findings carry no penalty.

The agents and one borrower

Accountants who had helped borrowers apply sued for a share of the lenders' fees. Sport & Wheat, CPA, PA v. ServisFirst Bank, in the Northern District of Florida, named Truist with three other lenders and claimed $1,875.57 of the fee paid to Truist. Judge T. Kent Wetherell II asked whether agents were entitled to a share of the fees and wrote, "The short answer is 'no.'"10 Truist removed a second agent class action, filed against it alone, to federal court in Orlando.11 The Agents Got Nothing follows the rest.

One borrower sued over the second round. Ironworks Development alleges that Truist offered to process a second-draw loan of $976,896.24, that accepting the offer kept it from applying elsewhere, and that the March 31, 2021 deadline passed without a loan. On September 30, 2022 the Western District of Virginia let Ironworks amend its complaint to plead breach of contract and refused leave to plead fraud; those claims are allegations.12

Sources

Notes

  1. SBA PPP FOIA loan-level data, release of Sept. 30, 2024, loans with Truist Bank as originating lender, priced under 85 FR 20811, 86 FR 3692 and 86 FR 3712; see the lender page. Original: SBA PPP FOIA loan-level data (original: data.sba.gov · stored capture) ↩
  2. SBA interim final rule, Paycheck Protection Program, 85 FR 20811 (Apr. 15, 2020). ↩
  3. Truist 2Q22 earnings presentation (July 19, 2022), appendix "PPP details." Original: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/92230/000009223022000074/ex993-earningsdeck2q22.htm ↩
  4. Truist Form 10-K for 2020. Original: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/92230/000009223021000032/tfc-20201231.htm ↩
  5. Truist Form 10-Q for the quarter ended Mar. 31, 2020. Original: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/92230/000009223020000060/tfc-20200331.htm ↩
  6. Truist 1Q20 earnings presentation (Apr. 20, 2020). Original: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/92230/000009223020000054/ex993-earningsdeck1q20.htm ↩
  7. House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, staff report, "Underserved and Unprotected" (Oct. 2020), pp. 6–7 and 14–15. ↩
  8. Truist Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2020. Original: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/92230/000009223020000099/tfc-20200630.htm ↩
  9. Select Subcommittee letter to Kelly S. King, Truist (June 15, 2020). Original: https://coronavirus-democrats-oversight.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/coronavirus-democrats-oversight.house.gov/files/2020-06-15.Select%20Committee%20to%20King-Truist%20re%20PPP.pdf ↩
  10. Order dismissing amended complaint, Sport & Wheat, CPA, PA v. ServisFirst Bank, Inc., No. 3:20-cv-05425-TKW-HTC (N.D. Fla. Aug. 17, 2020), Doc. 87. Original: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flnd.190491/gov.uscourts.flnd.190491.87.0_1.pdf ↩
  11. Notice of removal, Steven L. Steward & Associates, P.A. v. Truist Bank, No. 6:20-cv-01083 (M.D. Fla.), Dkt. 1. Original: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flmd.378442/gov.uscourts.flmd.378442.1.0.pdf ↩
  12. Memorandum opinion, Ironworks Development, LLC v. Truist Bank, No. 3:21-cv-00032 (W.D. Va.), Dkt. 52. Original: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.vawd.123373/gov.uscourts.vawd.123373.52.0.pdf ↩
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