Jerry Akers, who with his family owns and runs 27 Great Clips hair salons in Iowa and Nebraska, said his wife spent four hours in the middle of the night this week trying to apply for a $2.7 million S.B.A. disaster-relief loan, to cover 12 weeks of health benefits for 220 furloughed employees. The S.B.A.’s website was so overloaded that she could not send the application until 4 a.m.

Mr. Akers said he hoped the new program would be easier to use. He is also hoping the bank he has relied upon for years can participate.

“We have a banker that we’ve got a great relationship with, but I met with him three or four days ago and he said ‘We’d lend to you hand over fist in normal times, but everything is shutting down and we don’t know what that means for you yet.’”

Under the new program, individual lenders will be able to use their own paperwork to process loans and can expect S.B.A. approval within two weeks. Banks will not disburse the loans until the S.B.A. assures them that each is fully guaranteed against default.

Unlike other S.B.A.-backed loans, business owners won’t have to provide personal guarantees or use all their available assets — from real estate to equipment — as collateral. There are no fees, and interest rates are capped at 4 percent.

“Because of the scale of this effort, it really has to work,” said Paul Merski, a lobbyist for the Independent Community Bankers of America, a trade group.