County directory · Illinois

CDFI lenders in Cook County, IL

4 certified CDFIs name Cook County or a town in it as part of their service area on their own website. 21 more are headquartered here. 3 more have a bank or credit-union branch here. 3 more say they serve all of Illinois. Sources: lender websites (29 Oct 2026–4 Nov 2026), the CDFI Fund list (21 Oct 2026) and FDIC/NCUA branch records.

Name this county: 4
Based here: 21
Branch here: 3
Serve all of IL: 3

A lender naming Cook 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: Alsip, Arlington Heights, Bartlett, Bedford Park, Bellwood, Berkeley, Berwyn, Blue Island, Bridgeview, Broadview, Brookfield, Burbank….

Lenders compared for Cook County

32 with local records

Lender	Local records	Loan sizes	Head office
1. International Bank of Chicago Bank or thrift, Chicago IL	headquarters here; 5 offices here; 4 SBA loans here, FY2020–FY2026; 77 home loans here, 2025	ask	9 mi
2. First Eagle Bank Bank or thrift, Chicago IL	headquarters here; 1 office here; 7 SBA loans here, FY2020–FY2026; 73 home loans here, 2025	$250–$1M	6 mi
3. Self-Help Federal Credit Union Credit union, Durham NC	8 offices here; 80 home loans here, 2025	ask	624 mi
4. Liberty Bank and Trust Company Bank or thrift, New Orleans LA	1 office here; 16 home loans here, 2025	ask	827 mi
5. IBC Bancorp, Inc. Bank holding company, Stone Park IL	headquarters here; 5 offices here	ask	6 mi
6. Vicinity Credit Union Credit union, Chicago IL	headquarters here; 3 offices here	ask	5 mi
7. Maroon Financial Credit Union Credit union, Chicago IL	headquarters here; 2 offices here	$500–$75,000	10 mi
8. St Helena Parish Credit Union Credit union, Chicago IL	headquarters here; 2 offices here	ask	13 mi
9. First Eagle Bancshares Bank holding company, Chicago IL	headquarters here; 1 office here	$250–$1M	6 mi
10. Berean Credit Union Credit union, Chicago IL	headquarters here; 1 office here	ask	7 mi
11. Fellowship Baptist Church Credit Union Inc Credit union, Chicago IL	headquarters here; 1 office here	ask	7 mi
12. South Side Community Federal Credit Union Credit union, Chicago IL	headquarters here; 1 office here	$150–$40,000	7 mi
13. Unified Homeowners of Illinois Federal Credit Union Credit union, Chicago IL	headquarters here; 1 office here	ask	7 mi
14. Shiloh Englewood Federal Credit Union Credit union, Chicago IL	headquarters here; 1 office here	ask	8 mi
15. Israel Methcomm FCU Credit union, Chicago IL	headquarters here; 1 office here	ask	12 mi
16. Park Manor Christian Church Credit Union Credit union, Chicago IL	headquarters here; 1 office here	ask	12 mi
17. Neighborhood Lending Services, Inc. Loan fund, Chicago IL	website names Chicago; headquarters here	ask	6 mi
18. Community Investment Corporation Loan fund, Chicago IL	website names Cook County; headquarters here	ask	7 mi
19. Chicago Community Loan Fund, The Loan fund, Chicago IL	website names Cook County; headquarters here	ask	7 mi
20. Greenwood Archer Capital, Inc. Loan fund, Chicago IL	website names Chicago; headquarters here	$10,000–$500,000	14 mi
21. Champions Funding, LLC Loan fund, Gilbert AZ	153 home loans here, 2025	up to $3M	1,433 mi
22. CoVantage Credit Union Credit union, Antigo WI	45 home loans here, 2025	ask	236 mi
23. Change Lending, LLC Loan fund, Anaheim CA	43 home loans here, 2025	up to $3.5M	1,716 mi
24. MortgageOne, Inc Loan fund, Carlsbad CA	3 home loans here, 2025	$25,000–$2M	1,716 mi
25. Liberty Financial Services, Inc. Bank holding company, New Orleans LA	1 office here	ask	827 mi
26. Allies for Community Business, Inc. Loan fund, Chicago IL	headquarters here	$500–$500,000	4 mi
27. TRP Lending, LLC Loan fund, Chicago IL	headquarters here	ask	5 mi
28. C3 Impact Fund, LLC Venture capital fund, Chicago IL	headquarters here	ask	7 mi
29. Cinnaire Lending Corporation Loan fund, Chicago IL	headquarters here	$500,000–$6M	7 mi
30. IFF Loan fund, Chicago IL	headquarters here	$10,000–$6.5M	7 mi

2 more lenders with local records are listed further down.

30 of these 32 lenders have received CDFI Fund awards, together $301.1M in fiscal years 1996–2024 (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

29 lenders

25 head offices and 25 branches or offices of 29 lenders on this page, within 40 miles of the centre of Cook County. Lenders with no office nearby may still lend here; many work by phone and online.

Loan types confirmed on these lenders' websites

Commercial real estate loans (7 lenders)
Auto / vehicle loans (7 lenders)
Personal / consumer loans (7 lenders)
Affordable housing development loans (6 lenders)
Small-business loans (6 lenders)
Nonprofit / community facility loans (5 lenders)
Home mortgages (5 lenders)
Equipment loans (4 lenders)

Banks and credit unions with a branch in this county

17 certified CDFIs have at least one office in Cook County (FDIC office data as of 30 Oct 2026 and 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 495 originated home loans for properties in Cook County in 2025 under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act: 0.6% of the 81,305 home loans that all HMDA lenders reported here.

Plus 5 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 Cook County

Official statistics

Median household income in Cook County is $83,498, about level with the Illinois figure of $83,390 (ACS 2020–2024).

Businesses here took 47.2 SBA-backed loans per 1,000 employer businesses over FY2020–FY2026: more than the median Illinois county (19.1), rank 13 of 102.

Measure	Cook County	Illinois
Businesses with paid employees (CBP 2023)	134,513 (41.7% of the state)	322,415
…of which under 20 employees	85%	85%
Businesses without employees (Nonemployer Statistics 2023)	553,291	1,120,413
Median household income (ACS 2020–2024)	$83,498 (about the state level)	$83,390
SBA 7(a) and 504 approvals, all lenders, FY2020–FY2026	6,343 (5,564 7(a), 779 504)	14,024
…per 1,000 businesses with employees	47.2 (rank 13 of 102 Illinois counties)	19.1 (median county)
Median SBA 7(a) loan, all lenders	$188,900	$200,000
…with a certified CDFI as lender, CDC or third-party lender	21 (0%)	46 (0%)
Variable-rate 7(a): median rate over prime at approval, FY2024–26	2.5 pts (2,477 loans; 10% at the SBA maximum)	2.5 pts (10% at the maximum)

Approvals by fiscal year: FY2020 676 · FY2021 736 · FY2022 842 · FY2023 935 · FY2024 1,174 · FY2025 1,216 · FY2026 764.

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.

SBA loans made here by CDFIs

SBA data as of 30 Sep 2026

Certified CDFIs were the lender, the CDC or the third-party lender on 21 SBA approvals (12 7(a) loans and 9 504 projects) for borrowers in Cook County in fiscal years 2020–2026, from 9 CDFIs. The 7(a) loans total $6.1M approved.

CDFIs with 3 or more: First Eagle Bank (7), International Bank of Chicago (4). 7 more CDFIs made 1 or 2 each.

Counted by the county of the borrower's ZIP code. Approval is not disbursement. These are only the SBA loans of certified CDFIs; most SBA lenders here are not CDFIs, and CDFIs also lend outside SBA programs.

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, 7(a) & 504 FOIA loan data, files as of 30 Sep 2026, downloaded 3 Nov 2026. Our counts, cancelled approvals left out. How we match lenders.

CDFI lending recorded here (FY2022)

CDFI Fund data, released Dec 2024

3,471 loans and investments totaling $625.7M (median $6,428) were reported to the CDFI Fund for borrowers and projects in Cook County in fiscal year 2022, by 67 reporting CDFIs.

Purpose (CDFI Fund category)	Count	Total	Median
Non-real estate microenterprise	2,157	$15.4M	$2,750
Home purchase	499	$131M	$228,000
Non-real estate business	275	$137.6M	$145,000
Consumer	122	$146,945	$800
Real estate: commercial construction, permanent or acquisition	107	$107M	$560,000
Real estate: multifamily housing rehabilitation	88	$67.4M	$695,000
Other purposes	223	$167.2M

Of 607 individual borrowers whose income was reported, 42% had family income at or below 80% of the area median.

CDFI banks and credit unions also reported 22,511 consumer loans in Cook County totaling $61.1M (Consumer Loan Report, tract totals, so no median); they counted 30% of them as serving low-income borrowers.

Loans and investments reported in other years: FY2018 1,196 · FY2019 1,292 · FY2020 2,580 · FY2021 24,202.

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 Cook County or a town in it

Headquartered in Cook County

The official list gives a headquarters address here. Check each lender's page for where it lends.

Say they serve all of Illinois

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.