GLOSSARY

Charge-off

A charge-off is a loan the lender has written off as a loss because the borrower — here, a franchisee — could not repay it.

When a franchisee's business fails and the SBA loan behind it can't be repaid, the lender eventually "charges off" the balance. It is the loan-world's word for a failed investment, and usually a failed business.

We compute each brand's charge-off rate from the SBA's own FOIA records: charged-off loans as a share of all resolved loans (charged off + paid in full). We only publish a rate when a brand has enough resolved loans for the number to mean something — a two-loan brand never gets a headline percentage.