With final guidelines not published until after 5 p.m. yesterday, many Massachusetts banks and credit unions have not started accepting applications for the $349 billion rescue loan program created by the CARES Act to help stop the collapse of thousands of small businesses nation-wide.

The Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, was created a week ago as part of the $2.2 trillion economic aid package. The U.S. Small Business Administration and Treasury Department have been releasing  information about the program’s details over the course of the week, some of which had changed. The final interim rule governing the PPP was posted to the Treasury Department website Thursday evening.

The Massachusetts Bankers Association said in a statement Friday morning that not all banks would be start accepting applications that day, adding that it expected more clarification from the federal government in coming days.

The MBA recommended patience from Massachusetts business owners as banks implemented the new program in one week.

“Even before the CARES Act was signed into law, local institutions have been working with their customers during this challenging time,” Daniel J. Forte, MBA president and CEO, said in the statement. “Banks will begin distributing these much needed funds to Massachusetts small businesses in the coming days and weeks, and we encourage everyone to be patient as the program reaches its full capacity.”

Interest Rate Doubled

One of the changes made in the final guidelines affected the loan interest rate, which is now 1 percent, higher than the previously announced rate of 0.5 percent, but lower than the 4 percent rate allowed in the CARES Act.

The SBA and Treasury said in the guidelines that the 1 percent rate would give borrowers low-cost funds while providing lenders with an “attractive interest rate relative to the cost of funding for comparable maturities.”

Among the Massachusetts banks still reviewing the guidelines is Rockland Trust. On its website, the bank said it would not be able to accept applications on April 3 and was “currently working to gather all the necessary information to advise our customers in the most helpful way.”

Eastern Bank President Quincy Miller told Banker & Tradesman Thursday, before the final guidelines were released, that the bank would need time to update its system coding, depending on what the final federal government requirements were. In the meantime, Eastern Bank planned to accept preliminary information from its existing small business customers on Friday and then gather additional information once the system is ready.

Among the regional and national banks active in the area, Citizens Bank had not started accepting applications Friday morning, according to its website, instead taking information from existing business clients and then prioritizing those businesses once its application is complete.

Bank of America has already started accepting online applications for the program.

Starting With Existing Customers

Also accepting applications is Haverhill-based Pentucket Bank, which went live with the loan program Friday at 12:01 a.m.

“We have been anxiously awaiting the release of these details and have been preparing for the release of the funds so that we’d be ready to respond to our customers’ needs quickly to meet the critical needs of the business community,” Jonathan Dowst, executive vice president, chief credit officer and the bank’s next president, said in a statement.

Pentucket Bank’s commercial lending team began gathering documents from customers when initial program details were released on March 31, pre-filling the data into the bank’s systems.

The bank also has a calculator on its website to help small businesses determine loan eligibility, as well as a link to a fillable PDF application released late yesterday by the SBA.

“We know these funds will go quickly and we wanted to be as proactive as possible to help meet our business customers’ needs,” Stephen Jaskelevicus, senior vice president and commercial lending team manager, said in the statement. “These PPP funds will be crucial to the well-being of many of these small businesses; while we enjoy witnessing our customers’ successes in good times, we feel that being there to support them during these challenging times is even more important.”