38%
of loans: we are not told how they ended
That is 35,640 loans out of 93,493. The government keeps them private. Nobody can say whether they were repaid — not us, not anyone — so every percentage on this page leaves them out.
SBA loans: who paid them back, and who did not
Most people who buy a franchise borrow money to do it, and the government records how those loans ended. Of the 45,407 that have finished, 4,432 ended with the bank writing off the debt — about one in 10. Below, brand by brand, so you can look up the one you are considering.
What is in the government’s loan file
45,407
loans we know the ending of
Each one was either paid back in full or written off as a loss. These are the only loans the percentages here are based on.
5,617
franchise brands borrowed this money
963 of them have a page on this site. We have not got to the rest yet.
420
brands have enough loans to show a percentage
Another 415 have some finished loans, but fewer than 20. We show their numbers without a percentage: one failure out of four is not a pattern, and printing it as 25% would suggest it is.
420 brands with enough finished loans to rate
| Brand | Charged off | Finished loans | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1000 Degrees Pizzeria | 15 | 20 | 75.0% |
| Experimac | 41 | 59 | 69.5% |
| Gymguyz | 12 | 21 | 57.1% |
| Window Genie | 34 | 61 | 55.7% |
| Dental Fix RX | 26 | 48 | 54.2% |
| Glass Doctor | 17 | 33 | 51.5% |
| Flip Flop Shops | 10 | 20 | 50.0% |
| Embroidme | 15 | 31 | 48.4% |
| Pro-Lift Garage Doors | 10 | 21 | 47.6% |
| Mr. Appliance | 28 | 62 | 45.2% |
| Nurse Next Door | 11 | 26 | 42.3% |
| Aire Serv | 9 | 22 | 40.9% |
| The Grounds Guys | 40 | 99 | 40.4% |
| Premier Rental-Purchase | 10 | 25 | 40.0% |
| Wireless Zone | 11 | 28 | 39.3% |
| Schooley Mitchell | 9 | 23 | 39.1% |
| Burgerim | 26 | 68 | 38.2% |
| UFC Gym | 8 | 21 | 38.1% |
| CPR - Cell Phone Repair | 9 | 24 | 37.5% |
| Concrete Craft | 8 | 22 | 36.4% |
| Signarama | 29 | 80 | 36.3% |
| Five Star Painting | 11 | 32 | 34.4% |
| Tutor Doctor | 22 | 65 | 33.8% |
| Dickey's Barbecue Pit | 58 | 172 | 33.7% |
| 360 Painting | 14 | 42 | 33.3% |
Colour uses the same 15% and 25% thresholds that raise a flag on a brand page, so a red cell here and a red flag there mean one thing.
How to read this
≠
A charge-off is not a closure
It means the lender wrote the loan off. A franchisee can fail while repaying, and an outlet can close with the loan paid.
20
is the bar, and it is about outcomes not loans
Fifty originations can mean five finished ones. We count loans that reached an outcome, which is what a rate is actually made of.
415
brands are excluded from the ranking
They have finished loans, just too few. Their pages show the counts so nothing is hidden — only the percentage is withheld.
—
Old loans and new brands are not comparable
A 2010 loan has had fifteen years to fail; a 2024 loan has not. Brands that grew recently look safer here than they may be.