California franchisees face 3-in-10 SBA loan failure rate
Nearly three in ten Small Business Administration loans to California franchisees in recent years have failed. That’s according to a new analysis by the Service Employees International Union of over 7,000 loans made to California franchisees over a 20-year period. As the San Jose Mercury News reported, the study shows that franchise owners in California “have a harder time staying current on their loans than in the rest of the nation.”
The failure rate on California SBA franchise loans made between 2006 and 2010 – the most recent period analyzed – is more than double the failure rates in earlier periods. The loans analyzed were made by banks and other private lenders through the SBA’s flagship 7(a) Loan Program.
The failure rate is the percentage of loans to California franchisees that the SBA charged off its books. Such charge offs happen after lenders liquidate all the borrowers’ collateral, which can include their home or other personal assets. Loan failures represent a financial disaster for the borrower, who may have lost both business and personal assets, and a loss for taxpayers, since the SBA has to write off the uncollected value of the loan.
