County directory · North Carolina

CDFI lenders in Durham County, NC

6 are headquartered here. 1 more has a bank or credit-union branch here. 2 more say they serve all of North Carolina. Sources: lender websites (29 Oct 2026–4 Nov 2026), the CDFI Fund list (21 Oct 2026) and FDIC/NCUA branch records.

Name this county: 0
Based here: 6
Branch here: 1
Serve all of NC: 2

None of the lender websites we read names Durham County; the lenders below are based here, have an office here or serve the whole state. Lenders based elsewhere may lend here too. Search your exact ZIP code in the finder to include lenders based nearby. Towns in this county: Bahama, Durham, Rougemont.

Lenders compared for Durham County

10 with local records

Lender	Local records	Loan sizes	Head office
1. Latino Community Credit Union Credit union, Durham NC	headquarters here; 3 offices here; 20 home loans here, 2025	up to $1M	2 mi
2. SELF-HELP CREDIT UNION Credit union, Durham NC	headquarters here; 3 offices here; 7 home loans here, 2025	ask	2 mi
3. Mechanics and Farmers Bank Bank or thrift, Durham NC	headquarters here; 2 offices here; 4 SBA loans here, FY2020–FY2026	ask	6 mi
4. Civic Federal Credit Union Credit union, Raleigh NC	1 office here; 10 home loans here, 2025	ask	20 mi
5. Self-Help Federal Credit Union Credit union, Durham NC	headquarters here; 1 office here	ask	2 mi
6. Champions Funding, LLC Loan fund, Gilbert AZ	11 home loans here, 2025	up to $3M	1,866 mi
7. Business Expansion Funding Corporation Loan fund, Charlotte NC	9 SBA loans here, FY2020–FY2026	$5,000–$5.5M	127 mi
8. Carolina Small Business Development Fund (The Support Center) Loan fund, Raleigh NC	5 SBA loans here, FY2020–FY2026	up to $350,000	23 mi
9. Self-Help Ventures Fund Loan fund, Durham NC	headquarters here	ask	2 mi
10. Institute Capital, Inc. Loan fund, Durham NC	headquarters here	ask	3 mi

10 of these 10 lenders have received CDFI Fund awards, together $121.8M 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

8 lenders

8 head offices and 13 branches or offices of 8 lenders on this page, within 30 miles of the centre of Durham County. Lenders with no office nearby may still lend here; many work by phone and online.

Loan types confirmed on these lenders' websites

Auto / vehicle loans (2 lenders)
Personal / consumer loans (2 lenders)
Affordable housing development loans (1 lender)
Small-business loans (1 lender)
Home mortgages (1 lender)
SBA-backed loans (7(a)/504/Community Advantage) (1 lender)

Banks and credit unions with a branch in this county

5 certified CDFIs have at least one office in Durham 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 53 originated home loans for properties in Durham County in 2025 under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act: 0.7% of the 7,684 home loans that all HMDA lenders reported here.

Plus 3 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 Durham County

Official statistics

Median household income in Durham County is $82,316, 14% above the North Carolina figure of $72,388 (ACS 2020–2024).

Businesses here took 33.4 SBA-backed loans per 1,000 employer businesses over FY2020–FY2026: more than the median North Carolina county (27.1), rank 27 of 100.

Measure	Durham County	North Carolina
Businesses with paid employees (CBP 2023)	8,282 (3.2% of the state)	258,169
…of which under 20 employees	81%	85%
Businesses without employees (Nonemployer Statistics 2023)	29,813	920,236
Median household income (ACS 2020–2024)	$82,316 (14% above the state)	$72,388
SBA 7(a) and 504 approvals, all lenders, FY2020–FY2026	277 (262 7(a), 15 504)	8,633
…per 1,000 businesses with employees	33.4 (rank 27 of 100 North Carolina counties)	27.1 (median county)
Median SBA 7(a) loan, all lenders	$350,000	$350,000
…with a certified CDFI as lender, CDC or third-party lender	23 (8%)	602 (7%)
Variable-rate 7(a): median rate over prime at approval, FY2024–26	2.75 pts (126 loans; 10% at the SBA maximum)	2.75 pts (11% at the maximum)

Approvals by fiscal year: FY2020 29 · FY2021 38 · FY2022 25 · FY2023 38 · FY2024 63 · FY2025 56 · FY2026 28.

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 23 SBA approvals (14 7(a) loans and 9 504 projects) for borrowers in Durham County in fiscal years 2020–2026, from 7 CDFIs. The 7(a) loans total $13.9M approved.

CDFIs with 3 or more: Business Expansion Funding Corporation (9), Carolina Small Business Development Fund (The Support Center) (5), Mechanics and Farmers Bank (4). 4 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

225 loans and investments totaling $61.4M (median $189,900) were reported to the CDFI Fund for borrowers and projects in Durham County in fiscal year 2022, by 21 reporting CDFIs.

Purpose (CDFI Fund category)	Count	Total	Median
Home purchase	129	$33.9M	$234,000
Home improvement	43	$3.8M	$60,000
Non-real estate microenterprise	22	$283,372	$10,950
Non-real estate business	12	$5.6M	$112,400
None of the listed purposes	10	$2.3M	$192,500
Real estate: commercial rehabilitation	3	$8.5M	$4M
Other purposes	6	$7M

Of 178 individual borrowers whose income was reported, 39% had family income at or below 80% of the area median.

CDFI banks and credit unions also reported 2,687 consumer loans in Durham County totaling $22M (Consumer Loan Report, tract totals, so no median); they counted 50% of them as serving low-income borrowers.

Loans and investments reported in other years: FY2018 108 · FY2019 136 · FY2020 325 · FY2021 831.

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.

Headquartered in Durham County

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

Say they serve all of North Carolina

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.