FIRST INTERSTATE BANK

FIRST INTERSTATE BANK was one of the thousands of SBA-approved lenders that participated in the Paycheck Protection Program. During the program period (April 2020 – May 2021), the lender originated 27,805 PPP loans totaling $2.62B, representing approximately 0.24% of all loans nationwide.

FIRST INTERSTATE BANK served borrowers across 43 states. The largest concentration of activity was in Montana, where the lender originated 5,541 loans totaling $478.8M. Other states with significant activity included South Dakota, Oregon, Wyoming.

The average loan size for this lender was $94,348. This figure reflects the mix of borrower types — large companies, small businesses, sole proprietors, and non-profits — that applied through this institution. Lenders were responsible for collecting and verifying borrower certifications and submitting loan applications to the SBA's E-Tran system.

Among the largest named borrowers that received loans through FIRST INTERSTATE BANK were: NAVAJO TRIBAL UTILITY AUTHORITY (AZ) — $10,000,000; ATLASMEDSTAFF, LLC (NE) — $9,015,695; TRIHYDRO CORPORATION (WY) — $8,376,920; and ALL NATIVE MANAGED SERVICES COMPANY (NE) — $8,119,180.

PPP lenders were compensated through processing fees paid by the SBA rather than by borrowers. Fees ranged from 1% to 5% of the loan amount depending on loan size. Lenders were not required to take credit risk — the SBA provided a 100% guaranty on each loan. This structure incentivized broad participation but also contributed to documented cases of lender fraud and over-processing of applications.

Borrower names for loans under $150,000 are withheld under FOIA Exemption 6. As a result, the named recipients shown below represent only a fraction of this lender's total portfolio. The full loan count and amount figures include all loans in the SBA's data regardless of disclosure status.