Dear Patriot Software Customers,
Payroll and payroll-tax dollars are securely flowing again at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Patriot is in good shape. FYI, my Team at Patriot Software has been working very long hours to support our hard-working customers taking thousands of phone calls, and I sincerely want you to know that we have your back. And, we’re sorry that you had to endure pain.
Lights-Out-Friday
As you know all too well, the lights unexpectedly and abruptly went out at SVB on Friday, March 10, 2023. Closing the bank without warning sent tens-of-thousands of businesses and hard-working Americans into a crisis.
New Update – Tuesday, 3/14/2023
- Once we verified that SVB’s direct deposit systems had resumed normally early 3/14/2023, we immediately sent all unpaid payrolls to be processed with same-day ACH. We’re thrilled to be hearing confirmation that employees are seeing paychecks posted in their bank accounts.
- Patriot Software announced we will reimburse our customers’ employees or contractors who have incurred NSF or overdraft fees.
- Patriot is working with three banks to replace SVB. Two of the three are moving very quickly for us. But now that SVB is operational again, we will select the best bank, not just the fastest.
Timeline of Events
Customers, you don’t need to read the following bulleted items because it’s all ancient history now. But if you do, you’ll see that our press releases and social media efforts got the attention of leaders at the Federal Reserve, United States Treasury, and U.S. Congress:
- 3/9/2023 – Business as usual. Normal procedures were followed. Direct deposit files were transmitted to SVB. Patriot received electronic confirmation that files were properly received without issue.
- 3/10/2023
- 7:00 a.m. – First reports of missing paychecks in employee bank accounts.
- 7:05 a.m. through 11:56 a.m. ET – We were in constant communication with our counterparts at SVB to figure out why we were hearing reports of delayed paychecks. We were told that the system had some delays from the previous night, and that payments would be going out as “same day” sometime that morning.
- 11:56 a.m. – We received a single email from our point of contact with a link to the announcement that the FDIC had shut down SVB.
- 1:30 p.m. – We posted our SVB Bank Updates page to immediately establish communications with our customers that would continue throughout the days to follow. We began sending communications to customers.
- 2:30 p.m. – We wrote our 1st press release, SVB Closure is Unacceptable!
- 3/11/2023
- 9:30 a.m. – We posted a 2nd press release I wrote, “Open Letter to Our Government,” as part of a grassroots social media and email effort to get Congress and the FDIC officials to act immediately. Patriot’s letter was sent, shared, and opened by ~19,000 friends on Twitter alone!
- 9:30 a.m. – We posted a 2nd press release I wrote, “Open Letter to Our Government,” as part of a grassroots social media and email effort to get Congress and the FDIC officials to act immediately. Patriot’s letter was sent, shared, and opened by ~19,000 friends on Twitter alone!
- 3/12/2023
- 10:40 a.m. – We posted a 3rd press release, Customer Update from Our CEO, to continue drawing as much national attention to the SVB problem as possible. I wanted our customers to know that we weren’t going to allow SVB’s banking screwup to stop Patriot or our American customers – no matter what!
- Late in the day, the Treasury, Federal Reserve, and the FDIC finally decided that the FDIC would guarantee the safety of our customers’ payroll and payroll-tax dollars in SVB.
- 3/13/2023
- U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, who is the Chairman of Senate Banking, personally thanked me for my Open Letter to Our Government. Senator Brown thanked Patriot for highlighting how many thousands of American small businesses were impacted by the abrupt closure of Silicon Valley Bank.
Summary
Patriot Software is committed to helping and supporting you, our American customers. It doesn’t matter to us whether you have 1 employee or 500 employees because we treat all of our customers the same. We are in this with you—we use our own software, and our employees felt the same pain yours did. Our internal mantra is Leave No Customer Behind because American businesses are PATRIOTs! And we’re thankful that our Government has listened to us in this SVB banking crisis.
Sincerely,
Mike Kappel, CEO of Patriot Software