Series · Ink Insurance research

The Default Report

Industries acquisition buyers are chasing that earned a reputation as safe bets, and are no longer earning it in the data. By Jason Hunt.

Industry Lifetime default rate Annual rate before COVID Annual rate today This year’s pace Edition
Self-storage 2.19%0.26%1.69%4.32% No. 1 →
All 7(a) loans 11.59%2.53%3.71%5.35%

Lifetime: loans made 2010–2016, followed ten years. Before COVID: FY2017–FY2019. Today: FY2023 to the latest settled month. This year’s pace: the current fiscal year, annualized. Each edition explains how its figures are counted.

Editions
  1. No. 1 Self-storage The safest industry in the 7(a) program has gone from a tenth of the program's default rate to four-fifths of it in three years. The loans that bought a facility are still performing; the loans that opened one are not. October 10, 2026
  2. No. 2 Next edition In progress.