United Community Bank

Lender or loan platform

PPP

Type: Company or group
Role: Lender or loan platform
Programs: PPP
Updated: September 29, 2026

The profile

A Southeastern regional bank that made 27,819 PPP loans for $2.8 billion, more than half of the dollars in the first two weeks. One borrower, Maurice Fayne, claimed 107 employees for a $2 million loan and was sentenced to 210 months in prison.

Type: State-chartered bank; PPP lender
Parent: United Community Banks, Inc. (Blairsville, Georgia)

United Community Bank made 27,819 Paycheck Protection Program loans for $2.8 billion, in the SBA's loan file; the largest numbers of borrowers were in Georgia (8,253), North Carolina (4,858) and Illinois (3,285).¹ The SBA approved 10,318 of its loans, for $1.55 billion, between April 3 and April 16, 2020, when the first appropriation ran out: 78 percent of the dollars it lent that year.¹ Priced loan by loan under the SBA's fee schedule, its book carries about $116.5 million in processing fees.¹² Its parent's 2020 annual report says that in the fourth quarter of 2020 alone, "the forgiveness and repayment of $633 million of PPP loans resulted in accelerated accretion of PPP net deferred fees and costs of $19.4 million." The bank also acquired $217 million of PPP loans when it bought Three Shores on July 1, 2020.³ See its lender page.

Flame Trucking

On April 15, 2020 Maurice Fayne, known as "Arkansas Mo," applied to United Community Bank for a PPP loan for Flame Trucking Inc., claiming 107 employees and an average monthly payroll of $1,490,200, according to the FBI affidavit behind his arrest. The bank funded $3,725,500 and then reduced the loan to $2,045,800. The affidavit says the proceeds went to loan payments and jewelry, and agents seized about $503,000 from three bank accounts.⁴ An indictment lists wire transfers out of Flame Trucking's United Community Bank account in the days after funding, including $175,000 on April 23, 2020.⁵

Fayne pleaded guilty in May 2021 to six counts, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and bank fraud.⁶ The amended judgment of September 15, 2021 sentenced him to 210 months in prison.⁷ The bank was the victim; no filing we found alleges wrongdoing by it.

The agents

United Community Bank was among the lenders named in the agent-fee suits that plaintiffs asked the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to combine in 2020; the panel refused on August 5, 2020.⁸⁹ The Agents Got Nothing follows those cases.

Sources

Notes

SBA PPP FOIA loan-level data, release of Sept. 30, 2024, loans with United Community 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) ↩
SBA interim final rule, Paycheck Protection Program, 85 FR 20811 (Apr. 15, 2020). ↩
United Community Banks, Inc., Form 10-K for 2020. Original: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/857855/000085785521000012/ucbi-20201231.htm ↩
Criminal complaint, United States v. Maurice Fayne, No. 1:20-cr-00228 (N.D. Ga. May 12, 2020). Original: https://ecf.gand.uscourts.gov/doc1/055112731757 ↩
Indictment, United States v. Maurice Fayne (N.D. Ga. July 28, 2020). Original: https://ecf.gand.uscourts.gov/doc1/055112841794 ↩
Guilty plea and plea agreement, United States v. Fayne, No. 1:20-cr-228 (N.D. Ga. May 11, 2021). Original: https://ecf.gand.uscourts.gov/doc1/055113668665 ↩
Amended judgment in a criminal case, United States v. Fayne, No. 1:20-cr-00228 (N.D. Ga. Sept. 15, 2021), Doc. 231. Original: https://ecf.gand.uscourts.gov/doc1/055113984042 ↩
Brief, In re Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Agent Fees Litigation, MDL No. 2950 (J.P.M.L.), Dkt. 1-1. ↩
Order denying transfer, In re Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Agent Fees Litigation, MDL No. 2950 (J.P.M.L. Aug. 5, 2020). Original: https://www.jpml.uscourts.gov/sites/jpml/files/MDL-2950-Order%20Denying%20Transfer-7-20.pdf ↩