County directory · South Carolina

CDFI lenders in Charleston County, SC

3 are headquartered here. 3 more have a bank or credit-union branch here. 4 more say they serve all of South 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: 3
Branch here: 3
Serve all of SC: 4

None of the lender websites we read names Charleston 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: Adams Run, Awendaw, Charleston, Charleston Afb, Folly Beach, Hollywood, Isle Of Palms, Johns Island, Mc Clellanville, Mount Pleasant, North Charleston, Ravenel….

Lenders compared for Charleston County

10 with local records

Lender	Local records	Loan sizes	Head office
1. REV Federal Credit Union Credit union, Summerville SC	5 offices here; 95 home loans here, 2025	$250–$5M	19 mi
2. Champions Funding, LLC Loan fund, Gilbert AZ	21 home loans here, 2025	up to $3M	1,832 mi
3. Change Lending, LLC Loan fund, Anaheim CA	10 home loans here, 2025	up to $3.5M	2,170 mi
4. Business Development Corp of SC Loan fund, Columbia SC	7 SBA loans here, FY2020–FY2026	up to $5.5M	108 mi
5. Spero Financial Federal Credit Union Credit union, Greenville SC	3 home loans here, 2025	ask	198 mi
6. Peoples Bancshares, Inc. Bank holding company, Mendenhall MS	1 office here	ask	578 mi
7. Peoples Bank Bank or thrift, Mendenhall MS	1 office here	$500–$5M	578 mi
8. CLIMB Fund Loan fund, Charleston SC	headquarters here	ask	2 mi
9. Charleston Redevelopment Corporation Loan fund, Charleston SC	headquarters here	ask	3 mi
10. South Carolina Community Loan Fund Loan fund, Charleston SC	headquarters here	$10,000–$3M	3 mi

7 of these 10 lenders have received CDFI Fund awards, together $55.2M in fiscal years 2008–2024 (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

7 lenders

4 head offices and 14 branches or offices of 7 lenders on this page, within 45 miles of the centre of Charleston County. Lenders with no office nearby may still lend here; many work by phone and online.

Loan types confirmed on these lenders' websites

Small-business loans (2 lenders)
Commercial real estate loans (1 lender)
Microloans (1 lender)
Affordable housing development loans (1 lender)
Nonprofit / community facility loans (1 lender)

Banks and credit unions with a branch in this county

3 certified CDFIs have at least one office in Charleston 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 139 originated home loans for properties in Charleston County in 2025 under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act: 1.2% of the 11,615 home loans that all HMDA lenders reported here.

Plus 8 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 Charleston County

Official statistics

Median household income in Charleston County is $88,494, 28% above the South Carolina figure of $69,324 (ACS 2020–2024).

Businesses here took 34.9 SBA-backed loans per 1,000 employer businesses over FY2020–FY2026: more than the median South Carolina county (26.5), rank 12 of 46.

Measure	Charleston County	South Carolina
Businesses with paid employees (CBP 2023)	15,801 (12.9% of the state)	122,958
…of which under 20 employees	85%	85%
Businesses without employees (Nonemployer Statistics 2023)	45,988	445,689
Median household income (ACS 2020–2024)	$88,494 (28% above the state)	$69,324
SBA 7(a) and 504 approvals, all lenders, FY2020–FY2026	552 (512 7(a), 40 504)	4,268
…per 1,000 businesses with employees	34.9 (rank 12 of 46 South Carolina counties)	26.5 (median county)
Median SBA 7(a) loan, all lenders	$311,500	$300,000
…with a certified CDFI as lender, CDC or third-party lender	11 (2%)	107 (3%)
Variable-rate 7(a): median rate over prime at approval, FY2024–26	2.75 pts (254 loans; 12% at the SBA maximum)	2.75 pts (11% at the maximum)

Approvals by fiscal year: FY2020 43 · FY2021 82 · FY2022 65 · FY2023 72 · FY2024 100 · FY2025 109 · FY2026 81.

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 11 SBA approvals (9 7(a) loans and 2 504 projects) for borrowers in Charleston County in fiscal years 2020–2026, from 5 CDFIs. The 7(a) loans total $6.7M approved.

CDFIs with 3 or more: Business Development Corp of SC (7). 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

278 loans and investments totaling $48.2M (median $75,000) were reported to the CDFI Fund for borrowers and projects in Charleston County in fiscal year 2022, by 19 reporting CDFIs. More than half of these records come from a single reporting CDFI.

Purpose (CDFI Fund category)	Count	Total	Median
Home improvement	148	$17.1M	$49,290
Home purchase	90	$19.8M	$169,000
Non-real estate microenterprise	19	$228,704	$6,500
Non-real estate business	13	$3.5M	$90,000
None of the listed purposes	3	$153,766	$2,147
Other purposes	5	$7.5M

Of 238 individual borrowers whose income was reported, 24% had family income at or below 80% of the area median.

CDFI banks and credit unions also reported 3,981 consumer loans in Charleston County totaling $50.1M (Consumer Loan Report, tract totals, so no median); they counted 41% of them as serving low-income borrowers.

Loans and investments reported in other years: FY2018 4 · FY2019 29 · FY2020 99 · FY2021 1,313.

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 Charleston County

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

Say they serve all of South 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.