Franchise financing
Financing a Sign-a-rama franchise
SBA lenders have approved 19 loans against the Sign-a-rama brand since FY2010, totalling $3.3M. The median approval was $75,000. These are loans that actually closed - not projections from a disclosure document.
Rank by loan count
#995
of 1,651 brands
Loans approved
19
FY2010 onward
Median loan
$75,000
Typical range
$25K-$571K
Middle 80% of loans
Median term
8.5 yr
Charge-off rate
-
Cohort too small
Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, SBA 7(a) and 504 FOIA data, as of 2026-06-30. Approvals from FY2010 onward. How we calculate this.
Lenders
Who financed Sign-a-rama
| Lender | Loans | Approved | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Bank | 2 | $1.2M | |
| Achieva CU | 1 | $571K | |
| JPMorgan Chase Bank | 3 | $285K | |
| PNC Bank | 2 | $273K | |
| MutualOne Bank | 2 | $200K | |
| Small Business Access Partners, Inc. | 1 | $197K | |
| Certified Development Corporation of South Carolina | 1 | $142K | |
| First Financial Bank | 1 | $125K |
Geography
Where Sign-a-rama units were financed
| State | Loans | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Illinois | 4 | |
| Arizona | 2 | |
| Kentucky | 2 | |
| Massachusetts | 2 | |
| Georgia | 1 | |
| South Carolina | 1 | |
| Tennessee | 1 | |
| Michigan | 1 |
Approvals by fiscal year
Loan count by fiscal year - a rough proxy for how fast the brand was opening units. Final bar is a partial year.
Loan sizes
- Under $50K21%
- $50K - $150K47%
- $150K - $350K16%
- $350K - $1M16%
Financing a Sign-a-rama: common questions
- How much do lenders finance for a Sign-a-rama franchise?
- The median SBA loan approved for a Sign-a-rama franchise is $75,000, with the middle 80% of loans between $25,000 and $570,600. That is the financed portion only - it excludes the buyer's equity injection, which SBA lenders typically require at 10% or more of total project cost for a business acquisition or new franchise unit.
- Which lenders finance Sign-a-rama franchises?
- By dollars approved, the most active SBA lenders for Sign-a-rama have been U.S. Bank, Achieva CU, JPMorgan Chase Bank, PNC Bank. Many franchise brands also maintain their own lists of preferred lenders, which may differ from who has historically approved the most volume.
- How long are Sign-a-rama SBA loans?
- The median term is 8.5 yr. SBA 7(a) terms run up to 10 years for working capital and equipment, and up to 25 years when the loan is secured by real estate - so a longer median usually means the loans included property.
We are a publisher, not a lender or broker. We never take applications and are never paid by borrowers. Read the full disclosures.