County directory · Louisiana

CDFI lenders in Rapides Parish, LA

1 certified CDFI names Rapides Parish or a town in it as part of their service area on their own website. 9 more have a bank or credit-union branch here. 2 more say they serve all of Louisiana. 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: 0
Branch here: 9
Serve all of LA: 2

A lender naming Rapides Parish 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: Alexandria, Ball, Boyce, Cheneyville, Deville, Echo, Elmer, Flatwoods, Forest Hill, Gardner, Glenmora, Hineston….

Lenders compared for Rapides Parish

13 with local records

Lender	Local records	Loan sizes	Head office
1. Southern Heritage Bank Bank or thrift, Jonesville LA	5 offices here; 3 SBA loans here, FY2020–FY2026; 162 home loans here, 2025	ask	49 mi
2. Exchange Bank and Trust Co. Bank or thrift, Natchitoches LA	2 offices here; 58 home loans here, 2025	ask	49 mi
3. BOM Bank Bank or thrift, Natchitoches LA	5 offices here; 26 home loans here, 2025	ask	50 mi
4. CLB The Community Bank Bank or thrift, Jonesville LA	1 office here; 12 home loans here, 2025	ask	49 mi
5. Pelican Credit Union Credit union, Baton Rouge LA	2 offices here; 11 home loans here, 2025	ask	104 mi
6. Engage Federal Credit Union Credit union, Natchitoches LA	website names Rapides Parish; 1 office here	ask	50 mi
7. The Cottonport Bank Bank or thrift, Cottonport LA	5 home loans here, 2025	ask	32 mi
8. SHB Bancorp, Inc. Bank holding company, Jonesville LA	5 offices here	ask	49 mi
9. Grant Bancshares, Inc. Bank holding company, Natchitoches LA	5 offices here	ask	50 mi
10. Homeland Federal Savings Bank Bank or thrift, Columbia LA	5 home loans here, 2025	ask	64 mi
11. American Bancshares, Inc. Bank holding company, Covington LA	4 SBA loans here, FY2020–FY2026	ask	153 mi
12. Exchange Bancshares, Inc. Bank holding company, Natchitoches LA	2 offices here	ask	49 mi
13. Catahoula Holding Company Bank holding company, Jonesville LA	1 office here	ask	49 mi

11 of these 13 lenders have received CDFI Fund awards, together $60.9M in fiscal years 2011–2024 (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

11 lenders

1 head office and 33 branches or offices of 11 lenders on this page, within 35 miles of the centre of Rapides Parish. Lenders with no office nearby may still lend here; many work by phone and online.

Loan types confirmed on these lenders' websites

Agriculture / farm loans (1 lender)
Auto / vehicle loans (1 lender)
Small-dollar / emergency loans (1 lender)
Personal / consumer loans (1 lender)
Small-business loans (1 lender)

Banks and credit unions with a branch in this county

10 certified CDFIs have at least one office in Rapides Parish (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 288 originated home loans for properties in Rapides Parish in 2025 under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act: 15% of the 1,943 home loans that all HMDA lenders reported here.

Plus 7 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 Rapides Parish

Official statistics

Median household income in Rapides Parish is $54,967, 10% below the Louisiana figure of $60,756 (ACS 2020–2024).

Businesses here took 14.8 SBA-backed loans per 1,000 employer businesses over FY2020–FY2026: fewer than the median Louisiana county (19.2), rank 39 of 64.

Measure	Rapides Parish	Louisiana
Businesses with paid employees (CBP 2023)	3,172 (2.9% of the state)	108,561
…of which under 20 employees	85%	85%
Businesses without employees (Nonemployer Statistics 2023)	9,416	418,516
Median household income (ACS 2020–2024)	$54,967 (10% below the state)	$60,756
SBA 7(a) and 504 approvals, all lenders, FY2020–FY2026	47 (45 7(a), 2 504)	2,762
…per 1,000 businesses with employees	14.8 (rank 39 of 64 Louisiana counties)	19.2 (median county)
Median SBA 7(a) loan, all lenders	$255,600	$250,000
…with a certified CDFI as lender, CDC or third-party lender	8 (17%)	483 (17%)
Variable-rate 7(a): median rate over prime at approval, FY2024–26	3.25 pts (10 loans; 20% at the SBA maximum)	2.75 pts (16% at the maximum)

Approvals by fiscal year: FY2020 7 · FY2021 9 · FY2022 7 · FY2023 11 · FY2024 7 · FY2025 4 · FY2026 1–2.

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 8 SBA approvals (8 7(a) loans) for borrowers in Rapides Parish in fiscal years 2020–2026, from 3 CDFIs. The 7(a) loans total $5.2M approved.

CDFIs with 3 or more: American Bancshares, Inc. (4), Southern Heritage Bank (3). 1 more CDFI 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

594 loans and investments totaling $116.5M (median $100,000) were reported to the CDFI Fund for borrowers and projects in Rapides Parish in fiscal year 2022, by 21 reporting CDFIs.

Purpose (CDFI Fund category)	Count	Total	Median
Home purchase	135	$26M	$125,977
Non-real estate business	134	$17.5M	$32,070
Real estate: commercial construction, permanent or acquisition	98	$44.4M	$224,858
Real estate: single-family housing rehabilitation	91	$12.1M	$124,848
Non-real estate microenterprise	58	$881,770	$15,000
Real estate: single-family housing construction	57	$14.1M	$240,000
Other purposes	20	$1.1M

Of 30 individual borrowers whose income was reported, 67% had family income at or below 80% of the area median.

CDFI banks and credit unions also reported 2,396 consumer loans in Rapides Parish totaling $25.1M (Consumer Loan Report, tract totals, so no median); they counted 64% of them as serving low-income borrowers.

Loans and investments reported in other years: FY2018 94 · FY2019 119 · FY2020 283 · FY2021 675.

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 Rapides Parish or a town in it

Engage Federal Credit UnionCredit union · Natchitoches, LAAgriculture / farm loans, Auto / vehicle loans, Small-dollar / emergency loans, Personal / consumer loans…Names Rapides Parish · Natchitoches, Sabine, Winn, Grant, Red River and Rapides parishes in North Central LouisianaVerified

Say they serve all of Louisiana

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

Louisiana SBDC at LSU AlexandriaSmall Business Development Center · 8100 U.S. Hwy. 71, Chambers Hall 115, Alexandria, LA 71302318-427-0408

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.