County directory · Arkansas
CDFI lenders in Cleveland County, AR
1 certified CDFI names Cleveland County or a town in it as part of their service area on their own website. 1 more is headquartered here. 2 more have a bank or credit-union branch here. 2 more say they serve all of Arkansas. Sources: lender websites (29 Oct 2026–4 Nov 2026), the CDFI Fund list (21 Oct 2026) and FDIC/NCUA branch records.
- Name this county
- 1
- Based here
- 1
- Branch here
- 2
- Serve all of AR
- 2
A lender naming Cleveland County on its website is a good sign, not an offer. Lenders based elsewhere may lend here too. Search your exact ZIP code in the finder to include lenders based nearby. Towns in this county: Kingsland, New Edinburg, Rison.
Lenders compared for Cleveland County
6 with local records| Lender | Local records | Loan sizes | Head office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Sigma Holdings, Inc. Bank holding company, Rison AR | website names Rison; headquarters here; 1 office here | ask | 8 mi |
| 2. GATEWAY BANK Bank or thrift, Rison AR | headquarters here; 1 office here | ask | 8 mi |
| 3. Cotton Belt FCU Credit union, Pine Bluff AR | 6 home loans here, 2025 | ask | 27 mi |
| 4. Connect Bank Bank or thrift, Star City AR | 3 home loans here, 2025 | ask | 20 mi |
| 5. FBT Bancshares, Inc. Bank holding company, Fordyce AR | 1 office here | ask | 13 mi |
| 6. FBT Bank & Mortgage (Fordyce Bank & Trust Company) Bank or thrift, Fordyce AR | 1 office here | ask | 13 mi |
5 of these 6 lenders have received CDFI Fund awards, together $21.5M in fiscal years 2015–2025 (CDFI Fund award database; each lender page lists its awards). An award funds the lender, not a particular borrower.
Order: how many kinds of local record we hold (its website names the county or a town in it, headquarters, a branch, SBA loans or HMDA home loans for borrowers here), then the number of those records, then the head office's distance from the county centre. Loan sizes are the range the lender's website states. It is not a rating and nobody pays for a place. SBA loans: SBA 7(a)/504 data (FY2020–FY2026, 3 or more shown); home loans: HMDA 2025 originations (3 or more shown); branches: FDIC/NCUA; distances are straight lines from the average position of the county's ZIP codes.
Where these lenders have offices
6 lenders6 head offices and 12 branches or offices of 6 lenders on this page, within 30 miles of the centre of Cleveland County. Lenders with no office nearby may still lend here; many work by phone and online.
Head officeBranch or officeApproximate (ZIP code area)
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, © OpenMapTiles, tiles OpenFreeMap. Head-office points: U.S. Census Bureau geocoder.
Loan types confirmed on these lenders' websites
- Commercial real estate loans (1 lender)
- Personal / consumer loans (1 lender)
- Small-business loans (1 lender)
Banks and credit unions with a branch in this county
4 certified CDFIs have at least one office in Cleveland County (FDIC office data as of 30 Oct 2026). A branch shows presence, not a stated service area; credit unions also require membership.
- FBT Bancshares, Inc.Bank holding company · Fordyce, ARAuto / vehicle loans, Commercial real estate loans, Equipment loans, Home repair / improvement loans…1 office in Cleveland CountyVerified
- FBT Bank & Mortgage (Fordyce Bank & Trust Company)Bank or thrift · Fordyce, ARAuto / vehicle loans, Commercial real estate loans, Equipment loans, Home repair / improvement loans…1 office in Cleveland CountyVerified
- GATEWAY BANKBank or thrift · Rison, AR1 office in Cleveland County · based hereOfficial list only
- Sigma Holdings, Inc.Bank holding company · Rison, ARCommercial real estate loans, Personal / consumer loans, Small-business loans1 office in Cleveland County · based hereVerified
CDFI mortgage lenders active here
Certified CDFIs reported 9 originated home loans for properties in Cleveland County in 2025 under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act: 10% of the 94 home loans that all HMDA lenders reported here.
- Cotton Belt FCUCredit union · Pine Bluff, ARAuto / vehicle loans, Credit-builder loans, Home mortgages, Personal / consumer loans6 home loans here in 2025 (HMDA)Verified
- Connect BankBank or thrift · Star City, ARCommercial real estate loans, Equipment loans, Personal / consumer loans, Small-business loans3 home loans here in 2025 (HMDA)Verified
A lender headquartered far away can appear here: HMDA counts the county of the property, not of the lender. Banks and credit unions below the HMDA reporting thresholds and most loan funds do not report, so other CDFIs may also lend here.
Source: FFIEC Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data for 2025, snapshot frozen 2 Jun 2026, loan-level records read through the CFPB HMDA Data Browser API on 3 Nov 2026. Originated loans only; applications that were denied, withdrawn or not accepted are not counted. HMDA publishes each loan amount as the middle of a $10,000 band, so totals and medians are approximate. Counts under 3 are not shown. How we match lenders.
Small business and SBA lending in Cleveland County
Official statisticsMedian household income in Cleveland County is $54,794, 10% below the Arkansas figure of $60,773 (ACS 2020–2024).
Businesses here took 168.8 SBA-backed loans per 1,000 employer businesses over FY2020–FY2026: more than the median Arkansas county (23.2), rank 1 of 75.
| Measure | Cleveland County | Arkansas |
|---|---|---|
| Businesses with paid employees (CBP 2023) | 77 (0.1% of the state) | 70,452 |
| …of which under 20 employees | 94% | 85% |
| Businesses without employees (Nonemployer Statistics 2023) | 436 | 244,688 |
| Median household income (ACS 2020–2024) | $54,794 (10% below the state) | $60,773 |
| SBA 7(a) and 504 approvals, all lenders, FY2020–FY2026 | 13 (13 7(a), 0 504) | 2,056 |
| …per 1,000 businesses with employees | 168.8 (rank 1 of 75 Arkansas counties) | 23.2 (median county) |
| Median SBA 7(a) loan, all lenders | $500,000 | $229,400 |
| …with a certified CDFI as lender, CDC or third-party lender | 0 (0%) | 280 (14%) |
For comparison, not an offer. SBA figures count approvals by every SBA lender for borrowers whose ZIP code lies in the county, not only CDFIs; approval is not disbursement. Rate over prime = the SBA's recorded initial rate minus the prime rate on the approval day; SBA caps it at 3 to 6.5 points depending on loan size (current prime rate and caps: methodology).
Sources: Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023, Nonemployer Statistics 2023 and American Community Survey 2020–2024 (table B19013); SBA 7(a) & 504 FOIA data as of 30 Sep 2026; prime rate: FRED DPRIME; SBA maximums: SBA 7(a) terms. Downloaded 15 Nov 2026. How we compute these.
CDFI lending recorded here (FY2022)
CDFI Fund data, released Dec 2024350 loans and investments totaling $13.9M (median $12,128) were reported to the CDFI Fund for borrowers and projects in Cleveland County in fiscal year 2022, by 5 reporting CDFIs. More than half of these records come from a single reporting CDFI.
| Purpose (CDFI Fund category) | Count | Total | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| None of the listed purposes | 208 | $2.1M | $6,903 |
| Non-real estate business | 61 | $3.8M | $37,303 |
| Home purchase | 36 | $2.9M | $47,866 |
| Non-real estate microenterprise | 19 | $353,611 | $15,086 |
| Real estate: commercial construction, permanent or acquisition | 16 | $4.3M | $73,322 |
| Real estate: single-family housing construction | 5 | $298,608 | $50,000 |
| Other purposes | 4 | $252,145 |
CDFI banks and credit unions also reported 142 consumer loans in Cleveland County totaling $2.2M (Consumer Loan Report, tract totals, so no median); they counted 28% of them as serving low-income borrowers.
Loans and investments reported in other years: FY2021 86.
Only CDFIs that hold an active CDFI Fund award (CDFI Program, Native American CDFI Assistance or the CDFI Rapid Response Program) report these transactions, so this is not all lending by the certified CDFIs on this page. The Fund masks which CDFI made each loan, so we cannot say which lender listed here made them.
Source: CDFI Fund, CDFI/NACA/CDFI RRP Program Award Recipient Data Release, Transaction Level Report and Consumer Loan Report public files for fiscal year 2022 (released Dec 2024; downloaded 3 Nov 2026). Amounts are original loan or investment amounts as reported. Place = the 2010 census tract of each record. How we count.
Lenders whose website names Cleveland County or a town in it
Headquartered in Cleveland County
The official list gives a headquarters address here. Check each lender's page for where it lends.
- GATEWAY BANKBank or thrift · Rison, AROfficial list only
Say they serve all of Arkansas
- Partners BankBank or thrift · Helena, ARAgriculture / farm loans, Auto / vehicle loans, Home repair / improvement loans, Home mortgages…Verified
- People TrustLoan fund · Little Rock, ARPersonal / consumer loans, Small-business loansVerified
Free help before you apply
These offices give free or low-cost advice: a Small Business Development Center or SCORE mentor can help with the business plan, cash-flow projections and paperwork most business lenders ask for, and a HUD-approved housing counselor can help with a homebuyer course, a budget or a missed mortgage payment. Some counseling agencies also lend; using their advice does not commit you to their loans. Call ahead to check hours and what they cover.
Business advice
Housing counseling
Sources: SBA local assistance listings, read 6 Nov 2026; HUD's list of approved housing counseling agencies (open-data version last updated 9 Apr 2025). For the current list and the services each agency offers, use the CFPB's housing counselor search (it uses HUD's list) or call HUD at 800-569-4287. Offices are placed by ZIP code, so distances are approximate.
Other Arkansas counties
Source: CDFI Atlas, cdfiatlas.com/states/ar/counties/cleveland-county/. © 2026 CDFI Atlas. Quoting with a link is welcome; republishing the pages or the compiled data is not (terms of use).