County directory · Iowa
CDFI lenders in Polk County, IA
1 certified CDFI names Polk County or a town in it as part of their service area on their own website. 3 more are headquartered here. Sources: lender websites (29 Oct 2026–4 Nov 2026), the CDFI Fund list (21 Oct 2026).
- Name this county
- 1
- Based here
- 3
- Serve all of IA
- 0
A lender naming Polk 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: Alleman, Altoona, Ankeny, Berwick, Bondurant, Clive, Des Moines, Elkhart, Grimes, Johnston, Mitchellville, Pleasant Hill….
Lenders compared for Polk County
6 with local records| Lender | Local records | Loan sizes | Head office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Affinity Credit Union Credit union, Des Moines IA | headquarters here; 2 offices here | ask | 2 mi |
| 2. Neighborhood Finance Corporation Loan fund, Des Moines IA | website names Polk County; headquarters here | ask | 4 mi |
| 3. Community 1st Credit Union Credit union, Ottumwa IA | 16 home loans here, 2025 | ask | 75 mi |
| 4. Champions Funding, LLC Loan fund, Gilbert AZ | 3 home loans here, 2025 | up to $3M | 1,146 mi |
| 5. Iowa Center Loan Fund Loan fund, Des Moines IA | headquarters here | ask | 6 mi |
| 6. Habitat for Humanity of Iowa, Inc. Loan fund, Altoona IA | headquarters here | ask | 6 mi |
4 of these 6 lenders have received CDFI Fund awards, together $19.6M in fiscal years 2000–2024 (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
5 lenders4 head offices and 2 branches or offices of 5 lenders on this page, within 30 miles of the centre of Polk 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
- Home repair / improvement loans (2 lenders)
- Home mortgages (2 lenders)
- Affordable housing development loans (1 lender)
- Auto / vehicle loans (1 lender)
- Credit-builder loans (1 lender)
- Personal / consumer loans (1 lender)
Banks and credit unions with a branch in this county
1 certified CDFI has at least one office in Polk County (NCUA branch data as of 30 Jun 2026). A branch shows presence, not a stated service area; credit unions also require membership.
CDFI mortgage lenders active here
Certified CDFIs reported 21 originated home loans for properties in Polk County in 2025 under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act: 0.2% of the 13,877 home loans that all HMDA lenders reported here.
- Community 1st Credit UnionCredit union · Ottumwa, IAAgriculture / farm loans, Auto / vehicle loans, Home mortgages, Small-business loans16 home loans here in 2025 (HMDA)Verified
- Champions Funding, LLCLoan fund · Gilbert, AZHome mortgages3 home loans here in 2025 (HMDA)Verified
Plus 2 more certified CDFIs with fewer than 3 loans here each (not listed).
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 Polk County
Official statisticsMedian household income in Polk County is $83,576, 11% above the Iowa figure of $75,059 (ACS 2020–2024).
Businesses here took 48.5 SBA-backed loans per 1,000 employer businesses over FY2020–FY2026: more than the median Iowa county (22.4), rank 8 of 99.
| Measure | Polk County | Iowa |
|---|---|---|
| Businesses with paid employees (CBP 2023) | 13,890 (16.7% of the state) | 83,321 |
| …of which under 20 employees | 82% | 85% |
| Businesses without employees (Nonemployer Statistics 2023) | 38,698 | 228,781 |
| Median household income (ACS 2020–2024) | $83,576 (11% above the state) | $75,059 |
| SBA 7(a) and 504 approvals, all lenders, FY2020–FY2026 | 674 (582 7(a), 92 504) | 2,729 |
| …per 1,000 businesses with employees | 48.5 (rank 8 of 99 Iowa counties) | 22.4 (median county) |
| Median SBA 7(a) loan, all lenders | $176,350 | $171,500 |
| …with a certified CDFI as lender, CDC or third-party lender | 1 or 2 | 86 (3%) |
| Variable-rate 7(a): median rate over prime at approval, FY2024–26 | 2.75 pts (213 loans; 11% at the SBA maximum) | 2.75 pts (8% at the maximum) |
Approvals by fiscal year: FY2020 91 · FY2021 89 · FY2022 96 · FY2023 78 · FY2024 116 · FY2025 123 · FY2026 81.
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 20242,476 loans and investments totaling $319.6M (median $50,000) were reported to the CDFI Fund for borrowers and projects in Polk County in fiscal year 2022, by 13 reporting CDFIs. More than half of these records come from a single reporting CDFI.
| Purpose (CDFI Fund category) | Count | Total | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home improvement | 1,213 | $71.9M | $47,750 |
| Home purchase | 747 | $151M | $185,600 |
| Non-real estate microenterprise | 489 | $1.9M | $2,625 |
| Non-real estate business | 15 | $30.3M | $148,000 |
| Real estate: commercial construction, permanent or acquisition | 8 | $63M | $815,114 |
| Other purposes | 4 | $1.4M |
Of 2,410 individual borrowers whose income was reported, 61% had family income at or below 80% of the area median.
CDFI banks and credit unions also reported 13,669 consumer loans in Polk County totaling $235.7M (Consumer Loan Report, tract totals, so no median); they counted 62% of them as serving low-income borrowers.
Loans and investments reported in other years: FY2018 472 · FY2019 1,639 · FY2020 3,274 · FY2021 2,660.
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 Polk County or a town in it
Headquartered in Polk County
The official list gives a headquarters address here. Check each lender's page for where it lends.
- Affinity Credit UnionCredit union · Des Moines, IAAuto / vehicle loans, Credit-builder loans, Home repair / improvement loans, Home mortgages…Verified
- Habitat for Humanity of Iowa, Inc.Loan fund · Altoona, IAOfficial list only
- Iowa Center Loan FundLoan fund · Des Moines, IAOfficial list only
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
- Mid Iowa SBDCSmall Business Development Center · 6500 University Ave., Suite 100, Windsor Heights, IA 50324515-331-8954
- Des Moines SCORESCORE mentoring · Des Moines, IA 50312800-634-0245
- The Iowa Center Women's Business CenterWomen's Business Center · 2210 Grand Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50312515-283-0940
- SBA Des Moines officeSBA district office · 210 Walnut St., Room 749, Des Moines, IA 50309515-284-4422
Housing counseling
- Des Moines Municipal Housing AgencyHUD-approved housing counselor · 2309 Euclid Ave, Des Moines, IA 50310515-323-8950
- Greater Des Moines Habitat for HumanityHUD-approved housing counselor · 2200 E Euclid Ave, Des Moines, IA 50317515-471-8686
- Home Opportunities Made Easy, Inc. (Home, Inc.)HUD-approved housing counselor · 1618 6th Ave, Des Moines, IA 50314515-243-1277
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.
City pages in Polk County
Source: CDFI Atlas, cdfiatlas.com/states/ia/counties/polk-county/. © 2026 CDFI Atlas. Quoting with a link is welcome; republishing the pages or the compiled data is not (terms of use).