The CARES Act designated up to $ 10,000 of each EIDL loan as an advance that lawmakers said did not have to be repaid. But the law required that the advance be deducted from the amount that would be forgiven on a company’s PPP loan, according to the Small Business Administration.

Angelina Branca owns Saté Kampar in Philadelphia, a renowned restaurant that closed its window in May and survived contextual events. Ms Branca used a $ 32,000 loan from the Paycheck Protection Program to pay her event agents, but when she recently asked for the loan to be canceled, she was horrified to learn that she would have to pay back the $ 10,000 she received from the economic disaster loan. program. Ms Branca contacted her lender and representatives in Congress to complain.

“This monthly payment wasn’t something I expected, and it’s $ 500 a month that I can’t afford,” she says. She made payments on the debt; these payments should be refunded, according to the invoice summaries.

The bill includes other assistance measures that are not specifically part of the paycheck protection program, but which could nonetheless help many small businesses. These include a $ 15 billion grant fund for closed theaters, museums, zoos and live event venues, and $ 12 billion for community development financial institutions, which provide loans and grants to people and communities who are often unable to get traditional banks to do business with them.

That amount would be transformational, said Jeannine Jacokes, executive director of the Community Development Bankers Association, a business group for community financial institutions.

“Whenever we have a recession, low-income places are hit hardest and are the last to recover,” Ms. Jacokes said. “The Treasury provides the capital for long-term investment in these communities.”

While lenders anticipate strong demand for new loans, some borrowers remain wary. Caren Griffin is still sitting on the $ 66,000 loan she got in May for University Spa, a hotel spa she owns in Denver. Her spa hasn’t been able to reopen, and she’s worried about breaking rules so complicated that her bank and six accountants she’s spoken to still struggle to interpret them.