May 19, 2021—Small business owners were left surprised and without aid after the Paycheck Protection Program ended weeks ahead of its May 31 deadline, CNBC reported. 

At Womply, a company that matches borrowers with lenders, there were 2.5 million applications in its system, Toby Scammell, the company’s founder and CEO, told CNBC. Of those, 1.6 million are in the hands of lenders that can’t send them to the Small Business Administration, which oversees the program.

Customers Bank said it had tens of thousands of applicants in its pipeline, while non-bank lender Fountainhead had more than 90,000 applications that were halted when PPP money ran out, the report says.

“It was a huge shock,” Scammell told CNBC. “I don’t think anybody in the industry expected this change last week.”

Congress previously voted to extend the program from March 31 to May 31 to help with ongoing demand, though the program ran out of money before the scheduled deadline. While the SBA set aside $8 billion for applications from community financial institutions, many business owners don’t qualify for those loans, the report says.