Business financing in Contra Costa County.
County-by-county financing guides. No paperwork. No social. No ID.
7 institutions are headquartered inside the Contra Costa County line, and 4 more keep a branch here. Below, we say which is which.
Not this lane? Home FinancingPersonal Financing
The doors in Contra Costa County.
The CDFIs, credit unions, and microlenders that actually say yes — county by county, in two languages. We are not a lender. Nobody paid to be listed. And where a county has no good doors, we say so.
- 11
- DOORS HERE
- 7
- BASED HERE
- 49
- CA COUNTIES WITH DOORS
- Lane
- Business Financing
- People
- 1.2Mresidents of Contra Costa County
- Elsewhere in CA
- Los Angeles County →66 doors — the biggest list of any other county in California
- State
- California →49 of 58 counties hold a door in this lane
Certified by the U.S. Treasury to lend where a bank will not. Nonprofit, patient, and used to a file that is not clean.
Apoyo Financiero Inc. · Community First LendingOwned by their members, not by shareholders. They look at your whole story rather than a score, and that is the difference when a bank says no.
Communityamerica Credit Union · Delta Schools Credit Union- Apoyo Financiero Inc.Community lending · Business capital
- Community First LendingCommunity lending · Business capital
- Delta Schools Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Diablo Valley Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Mckesson & Healthcare Providers Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- IN THIS LIST
4 of the 11 doors inside the county line are CDFI-certified.
The U.S. Treasury certifies them to lend to the people banks pass over. It is a loan, not a favour.
- Antioch Community Credit UnionPersonal · Home
- Atchison Village Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedMinority depositoryPersonal
Based elsewhere, with a member-facing office inside the Contra Costa County line. You can walk in.
- Communityamerica Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Operating Engineers Local Union #3 Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Self-Help Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedMinority depositoryPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Travis Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Accion Opportunity FundAccepts ITIN
Nonprofit small-business lender. Accepts ITIN in place of SSN. Serves most states, in English and Spanish.
Business capital - Grameen AmericaAccepts ITIN
Microloans for women entrepreneurs. Requires photo ID and proof of address — no SSN requirement. Branches in major metro areas.
Business capital - Mission Asset FundAccepts ITIN
Zero-interest lending circles and credit building. SSN or ITIN accepted. Works through nonprofit partners across the country.
Personal
How to read this list.
We do not ask for your name, your email, or your number. Nothing on this page changes based on who you are.
A door is headquartered here when its head office sits inside the county line. The rest are based elsewhere and keep a branch you can walk into. We list both, and we label which is which.
Every institution on this page comes from public federal data — the CDFI Fund certified list (Aug 2026), NCUA credit union data (Jun 2026), and the SBA microloan intermediary list (Sep 2026) — plus a short national tier we verified by hand. We refresh each list as its agency publishes. No listing is paid.
Contra Costa County is really two counties wearing one name: the industrial and immigrant west end around Richmond and San Pablo, the refinery and healthcare corridor through Martinez and Concord, and the fast-growing east end out past Antioch, Oakley, and Brentwood. This guide explains what business financing actually is, who tends to qualify when your income comes from subcontracts and shift work, which documents to gather first, and exactly which institutions have a real presence in this county — including the mission lenders based right here. Nothing to fill out, nothing collected from you.
It's a process, not a rejection.
Business financing is money you borrow — or occasionally receive as a grant — to start, run, or grow a business. The usual shapes are a term loan with fixed payments, a line of credit you draw on between jobs, a microloan for smaller amounts and thinner files, equipment financing secured by the machine, and invoice or contract financing that advances money a customer already owes you.
This county has an unusual economy for small operators, because it has several at once. Along the Carquinez Strait, the refineries and industrial plants at Richmond and Martinez generate a steady demand for trades work — scaffolding, welding, insulation, industrial cleaning, safety services, hauling — much of it subcontracted and much of it union. Through Martinez, Concord, and Walnut Creek there is a large healthcare and office economy, which feeds janitorial, landscaping, food service, and home care businesses.
Out east, Antioch, Oakley, and Brentwood are still adding houses and people, which means framing crews, roofers, concrete, fencing, and the small stores and restaurants that follow new neighborhoods. Brentwood still has real farmland and farm stands at its edges.
And the west end — Richmond, San Pablo, North Richmond — is one of the most working-class, most immigrant, most small-business-dense parts of the Bay Area, with storefronts, taquerías, auto shops, and trucking operations built by families rather than investors.
Which part of the county you work in changes which door makes sense. That is the useful thing this page can tell you.
Forget what the banks say.
Every lender is asking four questions underneath the forms. Can you repay this? What is your borrowing history? How long have you done this work? Does the plan make sense in this market?
How you answer depends on which economy you are in. If you subcontract industrial or construction work, your strength is documented contracts and a track record with general contractors — a signed purchase order or a letter from a GC is worth more than a polished business plan.
Your weakness is timing: you finish the work, then wait to get paid, and payroll does not wait with you.
That gap is exactly what a line of credit or invoice financing is built for, and it is worth arranging before you need it.
If you run a storefront in Richmond, San Pablo, or Concord, your strength is consistent deposits and time in business. Your weakness is usually recordkeeping — a cash-heavy business that does not run its money through a bank account is nearly invisible to an underwriter, no matter how well it is doing. The fix is unglamorous: deposit your daily take, and keep twelve months of statements.
If you are starting out, you are not shut out. Microloans exist for a first loan, and community lenders here regularly work with businesses that no bank would score. Thin credit is more fixable than damaged credit, and there are products for both.
An ITIN instead of a Social Security Number does not disqualify you. Several institutions below lend with one, and they are marked.
Get your papers in order.
Collect this before the first phone call. It is the difference between a two-week process and a two-month one.
- 01Government photo ID
Driver's license, passport, or consular ID
- 02Your ITIN or SSN
- 03Business registration
A fictitious business name filed with the county clerk, or your LLC or corporation paperwork from the state
- 04Contractor's license
Seller's permit, health permit, or motor carrier authority, depending on your trade
- 05Two years of personal tax returns
Plus business returns if filed separately
- 06Twelve months of business bank statements
- 07A simple profit-and-loss summary, even one you wrote yourself
- 08One page describing what you do
Who pays you, what the money is for, and how you repay it
- 09Signed contracts
Purchase orders, or a letter from a general contractor if the loan is tied to specific work
- 10Accounts receivable list
Who owes you, how much, and how long it has been outstanding
- 11List of trucks
Trailers, and equipment you own, with rough values
- MISSING ONE?Ask Iris which one you're missing.ASK A QUESTION ↓
The doors worth knowing.
This county has something most counties in America do not: mission-driven lenders actually headquartered inside its own line.
ALL 11 DOORS, BY NAME AND BY TOWN- 11
- DOORS HERE
- 155
- ACROSS CA
Based in Concord, California. A community development financial institution, certified by the U.S. Treasury to lend where a bank will not, and used to a file that is not clean.
BEST FORCommunity lending where a bank has already said no, and working capital, equipment and payroll for a small business.Based in Richmond, California. Treasury-certified as a CDFI, which is a mandate rather than a courtesy: reaching borrowers the mainstream market passes over is the job.
BEST FORWorking capital, equipment and payroll for a small business, and community lending where a bank has already said no.Based in Durham, North Carolina. A credit union: no shareholders to satisfy, and a habit of reading a whole story rather than a single score. It is CDFI-certified, and it is a minority depository.
BEST FORWorking capital, equipment and payroll for a small business, and a personal loan, or building a credit file from nothing.Based in Martinez, California. A credit union — owned by its members rather than by shareholders, which is exactly what changes the conversation after a bank has said no.
BEST FORA personal loan, or building a credit file from nothing, and buying, repairing or refinancing a home.
Don't fall into these traps.
A company buys your future receipts and takes a daily or weekly cut from your account. Legally it is not a loan, the cost is severe once annualized, and the daily debit does its worst damage in the exact week you are waiting on a general contractor to pay. Stacking two or three is common and hard to escape. If you are already there, take it to a CDFI loan officer or an SBDC advisor before adding another.
Real lenders take their fee from the loan. A large upfront charge for processing or guaranteed approval is the oldest trick in the business.
These pitches are heavily advertised in Spanish and charge for work you can do yourself for free.
The trap is usually at the finish: a large balloon purchase price for equipment you thought you were buying all along.
Putting your work truck's title on the line risks your income, not just your money.
No legitimate lender needs a signature today. Ask for the total dollar cost, read the paper, show it to someone you trust, and compare at least two offers.
Everything below is set by California, and it reads the same in every county in it. The 11 marks above are this county's own doors — who opens one is decided by them, not by the state.
The rules where you are.
Operating under a name other than your own legal name requires a fictitious business name statement filed with the county clerk and published in a local newspaper. An LLC or corporation registers with the Secretary of State, with an annual filing that is easy to miss and annoying to repair.
Construction work above a small dollar threshold requires a state contractors' license. In a county where much of the available work is refinery turnarounds and subdivision building, that license is also your access card: general contractors verify it before issuing a subcontract, and lenders financing equipment often ask for the number.
California has a commercial financing disclosure law. A lender or a merchant cash advance company offering small-business financing must give you standardized written disclosures, including the total cost of the money. No disclosure sheet is itself a warning.
Worker classification rules in California are strict, and a business built on treating workers as independent contractors carries real exposure. Lenders and bonding companies both ask about it. If your crew looks like employees, get advice before it becomes a bill.
State economic development offices run loan guarantee and technical assistance efforts through regional partners, generally aimed at borrowers banks decline. An SBDC advisor can tell you which are open now, since availability shifts.
Licensing is public. Verify any lender or broker before you sign.
The short version.
- 01
If you run a business in Contra Costa County — a trades crew working the refineries, a landscaping or cleaning outfit, a storefront in Richmond or Concord, a framing crew out in Antioch or Brentwood — the strongest doors are close by. Two certified community development lenders are headquartered in this county, plus several local credit unions and a CDFI-certified credit union in Richmond.
- 02
Do this. Gather twelve months of bank statements, your ID and ITIN or SSN, your business registration, and a one-page description of what you do. Then call two of the mission lenders based in the county and ask each the same two questions: do you lend to borrowers with an ITIN, and do you report payments to the credit bureaus? A loan that builds your file is worth more than a slightly cheaper one that does not.
- 03
If your problem is the wait between finishing work and getting paid, say that out loud on the call. It has a name and a product, and it is not a merchant cash advance.
- 04
Origen Capital is a directory, not a lender and not a broker. We collect nothing from you, we do not sell your information, and there is nothing here to fill out. Use this page to know who exists, then deal with the institution directly.
Same county, another question.
Home FinancingPurchase, renovation, HELOC, and bridge loans for homeowners and investorsSEE IT IN CONTRA COSTA COUNTY →
Personal FinancingPersonal loans, credit building, and ITIN-friendly financing optionsSEE IT IN CONTRA COSTA COUNTY →49CA COUNTIES WITH DOORSThe whole stateEvery county in California, in this same lane.155 institutions fund small businesses inside California county lines.OPEN THE STATE →Still don't see your situation?
Ask Iris. She'll explain it the way it should have been explained the first time.