County directory · North Carolina
CDFI lenders in Mecklenburg County, NC
4 are headquartered here. 4 more have 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
- 4
- Branch here
- 4
- Serve all of NC
- 2
None of the lender websites we read names Mecklenburg 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: Charlotte, Cornelius, Davidson, Huntersville, Matthews, Newell, Paw Creek, Pineville.
Lenders compared for Mecklenburg County
13 with local records| Lender | Local records | Loan sizes | Head office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Business Expansion Funding Corporation Loan fund, Charlotte NC | headquarters here; 62 SBA loans here, FY2020–FY2026 | $5,000–$5.5M | 7 mi |
| 2. Civic Federal Credit Union Credit union, Raleigh NC | 1 office here; 38 home loans here, 2025 | ask | 130 mi |
| 3. Latino Community Credit Union Credit union, Durham NC | 4 offices here; 30 home loans here, 2025 | up to $1M | 124 mi |
| 4. Mechanics and Farmers Bank Bank or thrift, Durham NC | 1 office here; 7 SBA loans here, FY2020–FY2026 | ask | 117 mi |
| 5. SELF-HELP CREDIT UNION Credit union, Durham NC | 2 offices here; 3 home loans here, 2025 | ask | 124 mi |
| 6. Nova Credit Union Credit union, Charlotte NC | headquarters here; 1 office here | ask | 4 mi |
| 7. Champions Funding, LLC Loan fund, Gilbert AZ | 55 home loans here, 2025 | up to $3M | 1,762 mi |
| 8. Change Lending, LLC Loan fund, Anaheim CA | 27 home loans here, 2025 | up to $3.5M | 2,092 mi |
| 9. GTE Federal Credit Union Credit union, Tampa FL | 19 home loans here, 2025 | ask | 512 mi |
| 10. Carolina Small Business Development Fund (The Support Center) Loan fund, Raleigh NC | 9 SBA loans here, FY2020–FY2026 | up to $350,000 | 133 mi |
| 11. Accion Opportunity Fund Community Development Loan fund, San Jose CA | 3 SBA loans here, FY2020–FY2026 | ask | 2,274 mi |
| 12. ASPIRE Community Capital Loan fund, Charlotte NC | headquarters here | ask | 5 mi |
| 13. DreamKey Partners Mortgage, Inc. Loan fund, Charlotte NC | headquarters here | ask | 7 mi |
12 of these 13 lenders have received CDFI Fund awards, together $101.6M in fiscal years 1999–2024 (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 lenders4 head offices and 11 branches or offices of 8 lenders on this page, within 30 miles of the centre of Mecklenburg 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
- SBA-backed loans (7(a)/504/Community Advantage) (1 lender)
- Small-business loans (1 lender)
Banks and credit unions with a branch in this county
5 certified CDFIs have at least one office in Mecklenburg 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.
- Latino Community Credit UnionCredit union · Durham, NCAuto / vehicle loans, Home mortgages, Personal / consumer loans4 offices in Mecklenburg CountyVerified
- SELF-HELP CREDIT UNIONCredit union · Durham, NC2 offices in Mecklenburg CountyOfficial list only
- Civic Federal Credit UnionCredit union · Raleigh, NC1 office in Mecklenburg CountyOfficial list only
- Mechanics and Farmers BankBank or thrift · Durham, NCAuto / vehicle loans, Personal / consumer loans, SBA-backed loans (7(a)/504/Community Advantage)1 office in Mecklenburg CountyVerified
- Nova Credit UnionCredit union · Charlotte, NC1 office in Mecklenburg County · based hereOfficial list only
CDFI mortgage lenders active here
Certified CDFIs reported 179 originated home loans for properties in Mecklenburg County in 2025 under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act: 0.6% of the 29,331 home loans that all HMDA lenders reported here.
- Champions Funding, LLCLoan fund · Gilbert, AZHome mortgages55 home loans here in 2025 (HMDA)Verified
- Civic Federal Credit UnionCredit union · Raleigh, NC38 home loans here in 2025 (HMDA)Official list only
- Latino Community Credit UnionCredit union · Durham, NCAuto / vehicle loans, Home mortgages, Personal / consumer loans30 home loans here in 2025 (HMDA)Verified
- Change Lending, LLCLoan fund · Anaheim, CAHome mortgages27 home loans here in 2025 (HMDA)Verified
- GTE Federal Credit UnionCredit union · Tampa, FLHome mortgages, Personal / consumer loans19 home loans here in 2025 (HMDA)Verified
- SELF-HELP CREDIT UNIONCredit union · Durham, NC3 home loans here in 2025 (HMDA)Official list only
Plus 6 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 Mecklenburg County
Official statisticsMedian household income in Mecklenburg County is $87,005, 20% above the North Carolina figure of $72,388 (ACS 2020–2024).
Businesses here took 42.1 SBA-backed loans per 1,000 employer businesses over FY2020–FY2026: more than the median North Carolina county (27.1), rank 8 of 100.
| Measure | Mecklenburg County | North Carolina |
|---|---|---|
| Businesses with paid employees (CBP 2023) | 36,472 (14.1% of the state) | 258,169 |
| …of which under 20 employees | 83% | 85% |
| Businesses without employees (Nonemployer Statistics 2023) | 124,720 | 920,236 |
| Median household income (ACS 2020–2024) | $87,005 (20% above the state) | $72,388 |
| SBA 7(a) and 504 approvals, all lenders, FY2020–FY2026 | 1,536 (1,442 7(a), 94 504) | 8,633 |
| …per 1,000 businesses with employees | 42.1 (rank 8 of 100 North Carolina counties) | 27.1 (median county) |
| Median SBA 7(a) loan, all lenders | $349,500 | $350,000 |
| …with a certified CDFI as lender, CDC or third-party lender | 87 (6%) | 602 (7%) |
| Variable-rate 7(a): median rate over prime at approval, FY2024–26 | 2.75 pts (708 loans; 13% at the SBA maximum) | 2.75 pts (11% at the maximum) |
Approvals by fiscal year: FY2020 158 · FY2021 160 · FY2022 157 · FY2023 231 · FY2024 262 · FY2025 319 · FY2026 249.
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 2026Certified CDFIs were the lender, the CDC or the third-party lender on 87 SBA approvals (25 7(a) loans and 62 504 projects) for borrowers in Mecklenburg County in fiscal years 2020–2026, from 10 CDFIs. The 7(a) loans total $13.4M approved.
CDFIs with 3 or more: Business Expansion Funding Corporation (62), Carolina Small Business Development Fund (The Support Center) (9), Mechanics and Farmers Bank (7), Accion Opportunity Fund Community Development (3). 6 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 202410,289 loans and investments totaling $146.4M (median $5,500) were reported to the CDFI Fund for borrowers and projects in Mecklenburg County in fiscal year 2022, by 36 reporting CDFIs. More than half of these records come from a single reporting CDFI.
| Purpose (CDFI Fund category) | Count | Total | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-real estate microenterprise | 9,898 | $57.7M | $5,250 |
| Home purchase | 218 | $61.1M | $243,500 |
| Home improvement | 123 | $10.9M | $59,169 |
| Non-real estate business | 31 | $3.7M | $75,000 |
| None of the listed purposes | 12 | $1.4M | $160,000 |
| Other purposes | 7 | $11.5M |
Of 350 individual borrowers whose income was reported, 34% had family income at or below 80% of the area median.
CDFI banks and credit unions also reported 10,888 consumer loans in Mecklenburg County totaling $64.5M (Consumer Loan Report, tract totals, so no median); they counted 37% of them as serving low-income borrowers.
Loans and investments reported in other years: FY2018 6,677 · FY2019 7,726 · FY2020 7,113 · FY2021 11,577.
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 Mecklenburg County
The official list gives a headquarters address here. Check each lender's page for where it lends.
- Business Expansion Funding CorporationLoan fund · Charlotte, NCSBA-backed loans (7(a)/504/Community Advantage), Small-business loansVerified
- ASPIRE Community CapitalLoan fund · Charlotte, NCOfficial list only
- DreamKey Partners Mortgage, Inc.Loan fund · Charlotte, NCOfficial list only
- Nova Credit UnionCredit union · Charlotte, NCOfficial list only
Say they serve all of North Carolina
- Carolina Small Business Development Fund (The Support Center)Loan fund · Raleigh, NCMicroloans, SBA-backed loans (7(a)/504/Community Advantage), Small-business loansVerified
- Excite Credit UnionCredit union · San Jose, CAAuto / vehicle loans, Small-dollar / emergency loans, Home mortgages, Personal / consumer loans…Verified
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
- North Carolina Small Business and Technology Development Center ~University of North Carolina at Charlotte~Southern Piedmont Region SBTDCSmall Business Development Center · 9319 Robert D. Snyder Road, PORTAL Building, Suite 216, Charlotte, NC 28223704-687-0440
- Charlotte SCORESCORE mentoring · 6302 Fairview Road, Suite 300, Charlotte, NC 28210704-344-6576
- Women's Business Center of CharlotteWomen's Business Center · 916 W. 5th St., Charlotte, NC 28202704-509-5884
- SBA Charlotte - Main office officeSBA district office · 6302 Fairview Road, Suite 300, Charlotte, NC 28210704-344-6563
Housing counseling
- Alliance Credit Counseling, Inc.HUD-approved housing counselor · 8000 Corporate Center Dr, Charlotte, NC 28226704-341-1010
- Charlotte Center for Legal AdvocacyHUD-approved housing counselor · 5535 Albemarle Rd, Charlotte, NC 28212704-376-1600
- Community LinkHUD-approved housing counselor · 601 E 5th St Ste 220, Charlotte, NC 28202800-977-1969
- DreamKey PartnersHUD-approved housing counselor · 4601 Charlotte Park Dr Ste 350, Charlotte, NC 28217704-342-0933
- Money Management International - Charlotte, N.C. BranchHUD-approved housing counselor · 10130 Perimeter Pkwy Ste 200, Charlotte, NC 28216866-232-9080
- NACA (Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America)HUD-approved housing counselor · 5855 Executive Center Dr Suite 400, Charlotte, NC 28212606-230-6222
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 Mecklenburg County
Other North Carolina counties
Source: CDFI Atlas, cdfiatlas.com/states/nc/counties/mecklenburg-county/. © 2026 CDFI Atlas. Quoting with a link is welcome; republishing the pages or the compiled data is not (terms of use).