CDFI lenders in Knox County, TN

7 of these 10 lenders have received CDFI Fund awards, together $20.9M in fiscal years 2013–2024 (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.

3 head offices and 16 branches or offices of 4 lenders on this page, within 30 miles of the centre of Knox County. Lenders with no office nearby may still lend here; many work by phone and online.

CDFI mortgage lenders active here

Certified CDFIs reported 396 originated home loans for properties in Knox County in 2025 under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act: 2.9% of the 13,459 home loans that all HMDA lenders reported here.

• Y-12 Federal Credit UnionCredit union · Oak Ridge, TNAuto / vehicle loans, Commercial real estate loans, Credit-builder loans, Home mortgages…330 home loans here in 2025 (HMDA)Verified
• Champions Funding, LLCLoan fund · Gilbert, AZHome mortgages19 home loans here in 2025 (HMDA)Verified
• Change Lending, LLCLoan fund · Anaheim, CAHome mortgages15 home loans here in 2025 (HMDA)Verified
• The First National Bank of OneidaBank or thrift · Helenwood, TNCommercial real estate loans, Equipment loans, Home repair / improvement loans, Home mortgages…14 home loans here in 2025 (HMDA)Verified
• MortgageOne, IncLoan fund · Carlsbad, CAHome mortgages6 home loans here in 2025 (HMDA)Verified
• Mountain Valley BankBank or thrift · Dunlap, TNAgriculture / farm loans, Auto / vehicle loans, Equipment loans, Home repair / improvement loans…5 home loans here in 2025 (HMDA)Verified
• GTE Federal Credit UnionCredit union · Tampa, FLHome mortgages, Personal / consumer loans4 home loans here in 2025 (HMDA)Verified

Plus 2 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.

Median household income in Knox County is $74,222, 7% above the Tennessee figure of $69,595 (ACS 2020–2024).

Businesses here took 34.2 SBA-backed loans per 1,000 employer businesses over FY2020–FY2026: more than the median Tennessee county (15.8), rank 17 of 95.

Approvals by fiscal year: FY2020 36 · FY2021 58 · FY2022 55 · FY2023 49 · FY2024 63 · FY2025 95 · FY2026 72.

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.

Certified CDFIs were the lender, the CDC or the third-party lender on 19 SBA approvals (8 7(a) loans and 11 504 projects) for borrowers in Knox County in fiscal years 2020–2026, from 5 CDFIs. The 7(a) loans total $2.9M approved.

CDFIs with 3 or more: Brightbridge, Inc. (16). 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.

51 loans and investments totaling $14.7M (median $98,211) were reported to the CDFI Fund for borrowers and projects in Knox County in fiscal year 2022, by 19 reporting CDFIs.

Of 26 individual borrowers whose income was reported, 23% had family income at or below 80% of the area median.

CDFI banks and credit unions also reported 1,156 consumer loans in Knox County totaling $9.5M (Consumer Loan Report, tract totals, so no median); they counted 23% of them as serving low-income borrowers.

Loans and investments reported in other years: FY2018 21 · FY2019 52 · FY2020 46 · FY2021 330.

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.