Business financing in Los Angeles County.
County-by-county financing guides. No paperwork. No social. No ID.
51 institutions are headquartered inside the Los Angeles County line, Los Angeles included, and 15 more keep a branch here. Below, we say which is which.
Not this lane? Home FinancingPersonal Financing
The doors in Los Angeles 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.
- 66
- DOORS HERE
- 51
- BASED HERE
- 49
- CA COUNTIES WITH DOORS
- Lane
- Business Financing
- People
- 10.0Mresidents of Los Angeles County
- Covers
- Los Angeles
- Elsewhere in CA
- San Bernardino County →21 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.
B.S.D. Capital, Inc. dba Lendistry · California Community Reinvestment Corp.Owned 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.
Actors Credit Union · Arrowhead Credit Union- B.S.D. Capital, Inc. dba LendistryCommunity lending · Business capital
- California Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- California Adventist Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal · Home · Business capital
- California Community Reinvestment Corp.Community lending · Business capital
- Camino Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal · Home · Business capital
- IN THIS LIST
19 of the 66 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.
- Century Housing CorporationCommunity lending · Business capital
- Clearpath Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Downey Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
Show the other 43Show fewer
- E-Central Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Financial Partners Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedPersonal · Home · Business capital
- First General BankPersonal · Business capital
- Genesis LA Economic Growth CorporationCommunity lending · Business capital
- Hanin Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal · Home · Business capital
- I.l.w.u. Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Inclusive Action for the CityCommunity lending · Business capital
- Jacom Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Kinecta Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Los Angeles Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Mission Valley BankPersonal · Business capital
- NHS Neighborhood Lending ServicesCommunity lending · Business capital
- PACE Finance CorporationCommunity lending · Business capital
- Pacific Asian Consortium In EmploymentBusiness capital
- Pacific Coast Regional, Small Business Development CorporationCommunity lending · Business capital
- Partners Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Rize Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Skyone Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Sustainable Communities FundCommunity lending · Business capital
- United States Real Estate CorporationCommunity lending · Business capital
- Usc Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedMinority depositoryPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Va Desert Pacific Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Vermont-Slauson LDC, Inc.SBA microlenderCommunity lending · Business capital
- Mission Valley BancorpCommunity lending
- Bopti Credit UnionPersonal · Home
- Cal State L.a. Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal · Home
- Calcom Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal · Home
- Columbus Club Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal
- El Monte Community Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal · Home
- Episcopal Community Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedMinority depositoryPersonal
- First City Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal · Home
- L. A. Mission Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal
- L.a. Healthcare Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal · Home
- Los Angeles Lee Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal
- Maryknoll of L A Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal
- Mid-Cities Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal · Home
- Nikkei Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal · Home
- Olive View Employees Credit UnionPersonal
- Priority One Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal · Home
- Rancho Credit UnionPersonal · Home
- Schools Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal · Home
- Sunkist Employees Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal
- Water and Power Community Credit UnionPersonal · Home
Based elsewhere, with a member-facing office inside the Los Angeles County line. You can walk in.
- Actors Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Arrowhead Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Chaffey Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Communityamerica Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Credit Union of Southern Ca, APersonal · Home · Business capital
- NO AGENDA
Nobody paid to be on this list.
The 66 doors inside the county line come off public data, and 51 of them are owned by their own members. We do not ask for your name, and we earn nothing if you knock on one door rather than another.
- Eagle Community Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
Show the other 9Show fewer
- Edwards Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Justice Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Operating Engineers Local Union #3 Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Orange County's Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Self-Help Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedMinority depositoryPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Skyla Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Fedex Employees Credit AssociationPersonal · Home
- U S Postal Service Credit UnionPersonal · Home
- Valley Agricultural Credit UnionPersonal
- 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 (Mar 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.
Los Angeles County is the largest county in the United States and one of the densest small-business economies anywhere — the port complex at San Pedro and Long Beach, the garment and light-manufacturing districts, the warehouse corridors of the San Gabriel Valley, the entertainment production ecosystem, and hundreds of thousands of one-person operations. This guide covers what business financing is, who qualifies when you get paid by invoice or in cash, what documents to gather, and which institutions verified as serving this county you can actually approach.
It's a process, not a rejection.
Business financing means money to start, run, or grow a business: a term loan repaid in fixed installments, a line of credit you draw on when a job runs long, a microloan when you are new or your credit file is thin, equipment financing tied to the truck or machine, and occasionally a grant you do not repay.
Which shape fits depends on how you get paid, and here that varies enormously. A drayage owner-operator hauling containers out of the port complex covers fuel, tolls, and chassis fees now and gets paid on someone else's cycle. A sewing contractor in the garment district works on cut tickets from a brand that pays after delivery.
A landscaping or janitorial crew invoices monthly.
A food truck or street vendor takes cash daily and restocks weekly. A production services vendor gets paid when the show wraps.
That gap between doing the work and being paid is the most common reason small operators here borrow. It is the structure of the work, not a failure. A line of credit or a short working-capital loan exists precisely for that gap.
With roughly ten million residents, this county has the deepest community-lending layer in the country — an unusual number of certified community development lenders headquartered right here, several built specifically for immigrant entrepreneurs and street-level businesses. The problem in Los Angeles is not scarcity. It is that the well-funded advertisers are louder than the mission lenders.
Forget what the banks say.
Every lender answers one question: can you repay, and can you document it. Credit history and time in business matter, but the strongest thing you can bring is evidence of real, repeating work.
Who typically qualifies here:
- Drayage and owner-operator truckers working the port complex and the warehouse corridors
- Construction trades working as subs — framing, drywall, concrete, electrical, plumbing, roofing, painting
- Garment and light-manufacturing contractors, including sewing and cutting operations
- Landscaping, janitorial, and pool service crews with recurring accounts
- Food businesses of every size — brick and mortar, trucks, catering, and permitted street vending
- Auto repair and body shops, childcare, home health, and beauty and barbering businesses
- Small retail and wholesale along the county's immigrant commercial corridors
If your income is uneven or cash-heavy, do not hide it — document it.
Six months of bank deposits showing a real pattern is far more persuasive than a story.
If you are a cash business, the most valuable thing you can do starting today is deposit your receipts into a business account so there is a record.
An ITIN instead of a Social Security Number does not put you out. Some institutions lend to ITIN holders and some do not, and the only way to know is to ask before you hand over a document. Many CDFIs do; never assume a specific one does.
Thin or no credit is workable, and you need not be incorporated. A sole proprietor with a city business tax registration, a fictitious business name filing, and a real business account is a legitimate applicant.
Get your papers in order.
Checklists vary, but this covers most small-business applications in California:
- 01Photo ID, and your ITIN or Social Security Number
- 02Fictitious business name (DBA) filing
Or your LLC or corporation formation documents
- 03City business license or business tax registration for the city you operate in
- 04California seller's permit if you sell taxable goods
Plus any contractor's license, health permit, or vending permit your trade requires
- 05Two years of personal tax returns, plus business returns if you file them
- 06Three to six months of business bank statements
The most important document if your credit file is thin
- 07Current contracts or purchase orders
And outstanding invoices with dates if you are borrowing against a payment gap
- 08Simple profit-and-loss statement
And one page on what you do, who pays you, and how the loan gets repaid
The doors worth knowing.
Los Angeles has the richest local lending layer in the country for a small borrower.
ALL 66 DOORS, BY NAME AND BY TOWN- 66
- DOORS HERE
- 153
- ACROSS CA
Based in Los Angeles, 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 Glendale, 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 Culver City, California. A CDFI — a mission lender, not a branch network. It is measured on who it reaches, which is why a thin file is not the end of the conversation.
BEST FORCommunity lending where a bank has already said no, and working capital, equipment and payroll for a small business.Based in Chantilly, Virginia. 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.
Los Angeles small business is marketed to relentlessly, and some of what reaches you is genuinely dangerous.
Not loans. A company buys a slice of your future revenue at a steep discount and takes a cut of your deposits daily or weekly. Legal, fast, and among the most expensive money available to a small operator. People take one to cover a payroll gap and then take a second to cover the first. In California you have the right to a cost disclosure before signing one — demand it and read the APR.
If repayment leaves your account every business day, this is not a conventional loan regardless of what the document calls it.
Legitimate lenders deduct fees from proceeds. Anyone asking you to wire money or buy a gift card to release your approval is running a scam.
If the person selling the deal cannot tell you who is actually lending and what the total repayment is, walk. And legitimate grant programs do not require a paid middleman.
Risking the title to your work truck to cover a slow week is how people lose the truck and the work with it.
No honest lender needs your signature today, and if a term is not in the document it does not exist. Ask for the total dollar amount you will repay — not a rate, not a factor, the total — and compare it across two offers.
That is fraud, every time.
Everything below is set by California, and it reads the same in every county in it. The 66 marks above are this county's own doors — who opens one is decided by them, not by the state.
The rules where you are.
California issues no single statewide general business license. What you need is layered: a fictitious business name statement with the county, LLC or corporation registration with the Secretary of State, a city business license in each city you work in, a seller's permit if you sell taxable goods, and trade licensing through the state contractors board or the relevant health regulator.
Two California rules matter more than the rest. First, worker classification: the state applies a strict test to whether someone is an employee or an independent contractor, and misclassification carries real consequences. If you use crews, get that right before you scale.
Second, and few small operators know this: California has a commercial financing disclosure law. Companies offering business financing here must give you standardized cost disclosures, including the annual percentage rate, on small commercial financing — merchant cash advances included, which historically hid their cost. That is unusually strong protection. Use it. If someone offering you money will not hand you a disclosure showing the APR and total cost, treat it as a bright red flag.
California also has a permitted sidewalk and street vending framework, which matters if that is your business: being permitted turns a cash operation into a documentable one, which is exactly what lenders want to see. State small-business programs change, so ask the SBDC what is open now rather than trusting anything online, including here.
The short version.
- 01
If you run a business or subcontract in Los Angeles County, you are in the best-served county in America for small and underserved borrowers — you just have to look past the advertising. More than a dozen certified community development lenders are headquartered right here, including several built specifically for immigrant and street-level businesses, plus CDFI-designated credit unions and free counseling through the SBA district office, the California SBDC network, and SCORE.
- 02
Start there. Gather your ID, tax returns, three to six months of business bank statements, your city business registration, and your current contracts. Write one page saying what you do and how the loan gets repaid. Then ask every institution the same two questions: do you lend to ITIN holders, and what is the total amount I will repay.
- 03
Use California's commercial financing disclosure law — you are entitled to see the APR and total cost before you sign. Compare at least two real offers.
- 04
Origen Capital is a directory, not a lender. We do not collect your information, sell financial products, or pass your name to anyone. Use this guide as a map, then work directly with a licensed lender, credit union, or CDFI when you are ready.
Same county, another question.
Home FinancingPurchase, renovation, HELOC, and bridge loans for homeowners and investorsSEE IT IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY →
Personal FinancingPersonal loans, credit building, and ITIN-friendly financing optionsSEE IT IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY →49CA COUNTIES WITH DOORSThe whole stateEvery county in California, in this same lane.153 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.