Business and Personal Finance Dictionary

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• BACK-END LOAD
  
  A form of sales charge imposed on investors by some mutual funds. These charges may be called back-end loads, deferred loads, deferred sales charges, contingent deferred sales charge (CDSC), or redemption fees. Regardless of the name, funds with deferred sales charges are simply one form of load funds. These funds offer investors the opportunity of paying a sales charge later rather than paying one at the time of purchase. The main advantage is that earnings from the investment in a deferred charge fund are paid on the full amount of the investor’s principal. In contrast, earnings in a fund with an front-end load are only paid on the net amount of the investor’s principal after the front-end charge is deducted. A second, potentially significant, advantage, is that deferred sales charges often decrease as the investor’s holding period lengthens. See front-end load, load, and no load.
  
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