County directory · Oklahoma
CDFI lenders in Cherokee County, OK
1 certified CDFI names Cherokee County or a town in it as part of their service area on their own website. 2 more are headquartered here. 1 more say they serve all of Oklahoma. Sources: lender websites (29 Oct 2026–4 Nov 2026), the CDFI Fund list (21 Oct 2026).
- Name this county
- 1
- Based here
- 2
- Serve all of OK
- 1
A lender naming Cherokee 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: Cookson, Hulbert, Moodys, Park Hill, Peggs, Tahlequah, Welling.
Lenders compared for Cherokee County
4 with local records| Lender | Local records | Loan sizes | Head office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Local Bank Bank or thrift, Hulbert OK | headquarters here; 3 offices here; 29 home loans here, 2025 | ask | 9 mi |
| 2. Muskogee Federal Credit Union Credit union, Muskogee OK | website names Cherokee County; 1 office here | ask | 31 mi |
| 3. Chickasaw Community Bank Bank or thrift, Oklahoma City OK | 3 home loans here, 2025 | ask | 149 mi |
| 4. The Cherokee Nation d/b/a Cherokee Nation Economic Development Trust Authority, Inc Loan fund, Tahlequah OK | headquarters here | ask | 2 mi |
3 of these 4 lenders have received CDFI Fund awards, together $20.6M 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
3 lenders3 head offices and 5 branches or offices of 3 lenders on this page, within 30 miles of the centre of Cherokee 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
- Auto / vehicle loans (2 lenders)
- Home mortgages (2 lenders)
- Personal / consumer loans (2 lenders)
- Agriculture / farm loans (1 lender)
- Equipment loans (1 lender)
- Small-business loans (1 lender)
Banks and credit unions with a branch in this county
2 certified CDFIs have at least one office in Cherokee 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.
- Local BankBank or thrift · Hulbert, OK · Native CDFIAgriculture / farm loans, Auto / vehicle loans, Equipment loans, Home mortgages…3 offices in Cherokee County · based hereVerified
- Muskogee Federal Credit UnionCredit union · Muskogee, OKAuto / vehicle loans, Home mortgages, Personal / consumer loans1 office in Cherokee CountyVerified
CDFI mortgage lenders active here
Certified CDFIs reported 33 originated home loans for properties in Cherokee County in 2025 under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act: 4.0% of the 822 home loans that all HMDA lenders reported here.
- Local BankBank or thrift · Hulbert, OK · Native CDFIAgriculture / farm loans, Auto / vehicle loans, Equipment loans, Home mortgages…29 home loans here in 2025 (HMDA)Verified
- Chickasaw Community BankBank or thrift · Oklahoma City, OK · Native CDFIHome mortgages, Small-business loans3 home loans here in 2025 (HMDA)Verified
Plus 1 more certified CDFI 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 Cherokee County
Official statisticsMedian household income in Cherokee County is $53,218, 18% below the Oklahoma figure of $65,039 (ACS 2020–2024).
Businesses here took 24.8 SBA-backed loans per 1,000 employer businesses over FY2020–FY2026: fewer than the median Oklahoma county (28.5), rank 46 of 77.
| Measure | Cherokee County | Oklahoma |
|---|---|---|
| Businesses with paid employees (CBP 2023) | 767 (0.8% of the state) | 96,402 |
| …of which under 20 employees | 90% | 86% |
| Businesses without employees (Nonemployer Statistics 2023) | 3,305 | 327,441 |
| Median household income (ACS 2020–2024) | $53,218 (18% below the state) | $65,039 |
| SBA 7(a) and 504 approvals, all lenders, FY2020–FY2026 | 19 (18 7(a), 1 504) | 3,359 |
| …per 1,000 businesses with employees | 24.8 (rank 46 of 77 Oklahoma counties) | 28.5 (median county) |
| Median SBA 7(a) loan, all lenders | $451,850 | $250,000 |
| …with a certified CDFI as lender, CDC or third-party lender | 1 or 2 | 57 (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.
CDFI lending recorded here (FY2022)
CDFI Fund data, released Dec 2024788 loans and investments totaling $38.6M (median $1,500) were reported to the CDFI Fund for borrowers and projects in Cherokee County in fiscal year 2022, by 4 reporting CDFIs. More than half of these records come from a single reporting CDFI.
| Purpose (CDFI Fund category) | Count | Total | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer | 648 | $1.5M | $1,500 |
| Non-real estate microenterprise | 42 | $734,642 | $13,288 |
| Home purchase | 37 | $11.1M | $222,026 |
| Non-real estate business | 24 | $5.5M | $51,106 |
| Real estate: single-family housing construction | 20 | $5.4M | $213,900 |
| None of the listed purposes | 8 | $1.5M | $68,615 |
| Other purposes | 8 | $12.4M |
CDFI banks and credit unions also reported 423 consumer loans in Cherokee County totaling $5.9M (Consumer Loan Report, tract totals, so no median); they counted 19% of them as serving low-income borrowers.
Loans and investments reported in other years: FY2018 889 · FY2019 900 · FY2020 752 · FY2021 1,004.
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 Cherokee County or a town in it
Headquartered in Cherokee County
The official list gives a headquarters address here. Check each lender's page for where it lends.
- Local BankBank or thrift · Hulbert, OK · Native CDFIAgriculture / farm loans, Auto / vehicle loans, Equipment loans, Home mortgages…Verified
- The Cherokee Nation d/b/a Cherokee Nation Economic Development Trust Authority, IncLoan fund · Tahlequah, OK · Native CDFIOfficial list only
Say they serve all of Oklahoma
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
- Arkansas SBTDC ~ University of Arkansas, FayettevilleSmall Business Development Center · One East Center, B41, Fayetteville, AR 72701479-575-5148 · about 49 miles from the centre of Cherokee County
- Tulsa SCORESCORE mentoring · 7107 South Yale Avenue, Tulsa, OK 74136about 54 miles from the centre of Cherokee County
- Greenwood Women's Business CenterWomen's Business Center · 102 North Greenwood Avenue, Ste 200, Tulsa, OK 74120539-867-4127 · about 56 miles from the centre of Cherokee County
Housing counseling
- Community Action Resource and Development, Inc.HUD-approved housing counselor · 707 W Lowry Rd, Claremore, OK 74017918-341-5000 · about 45 miles from the centre of Cherokee County
- Credit Counseling of Arkansas - Fort SmithHUD-approved housing counselor · 816 Garrison Ave, Fort Smith, AR 72901479-521-8877 · about 49 miles from the centre of Cherokee County
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.
Other Oklahoma counties
Source: CDFI Atlas, cdfiatlas.com/states/ok/counties/cherokee-county/. © 2026 CDFI Atlas. Quoting with a link is welcome; republishing the pages or the compiled data is not (terms of use).