Business financing in Broward County.
County-by-county financing guides. No paperwork. No social. No ID.
9 institutions are headquartered inside the Broward County line, Fort Lauderdale included, and 9 more keep a branch here. Below, we say which is which.
Not this lane? Home FinancingPersonal Financing
The doors in Broward 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.
- 18
- DOORS HERE
- 9
- BASED HERE
- 61
- FL COUNTIES WITH DOORS
- Lane
- Business Financing
- People
- 1.9Mresidents of Broward County
- Covers
- Fort Lauderdale
- Elsewhere in FL
- Miami-Dade County →24 doors — the biggest list of any other county in Florida
- State
- Florida →61 of 67 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.
Central County Community Development Corporation · Dade County Credit UnionOwned 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.
Brightstar Credit Union · Dade County Credit Union- Brightstar Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Central County Community Development CorporationCommunity lending · Business capital
- Memorial Employees Financial Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Power Financial Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Tropical Financial Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- IN THIS LIST
3 of the 18 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.
- We Florida Financial Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Broward Healthcare Credit UnionPersonal · Home
- Connect Credit UnionPersonal · Home
Show the other 1Show fewer
- Priorityone Credit Union of FloridaPersonal · Home
Based elsewhere, with a member-facing office inside the Broward County line. You can walk in.
- Dade County Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedMinority depositoryPersonal · Home · Business capital
- First Florida Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Ithink Financial Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Justice Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Publix Employees Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- NO AGENDA
Nobody paid to be on this list.
The 18 doors inside the county line come off public data, and 17 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.
- Space Coast Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
Show the other 3Show fewer
- Ukrainian Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Educational Credit UnionPersonal · Home
- Jm Associates Credit UnionPersonal · Home
- 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.
Broward County holds nearly two million people from Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood out through Pembroke Pines, Miramar, Sunrise, Pompano Beach, and Coral Springs. Its small-business economy runs on the marine trades, hospitality and the cruise and airport corridor, construction and renovation, landscaping that never stops, trucking and warehousing near the port, home health care, and the storefront economies of its Caribbean and Latin American communities. This guide explains what business financing is, who qualifies when income is seasonal or 1099, what documents lenders want, which community lenders are actually based in Broward, Florida's rules, and the traps that hit small contractors here hardest.
It's a process, not a rejection.
Business financing means access to money that helps you start, steady, or grow a business. The plain shapes:
- A term loan — a set amount repaid in fixed payments.
- A line of credit — an approved limit you draw on only when you need it. The right tool when your problem is the gap between finishing a job and getting paid.
- A microloan — smaller amounts, for when you are new or your credit file is thin.
- Equipment financing — the van, trailer, lift, mower, or shop equipment is its own collateral.
- Invoice or receivables financing — borrowing against work already completed and billed.
- A grant — money you do not repay. Real, rare, and rarely enough on its own.
Broward's small-business economy has two features that shape financing more than anything else.
The first is seasonality. Hospitality, marine service, charter and tour work, event catering, and even parts of construction move with the season here. Your revenue chart has a shape.
Lenders reading a rigid template see instability; anyone who has worked a season in this county sees normal.
Your job is to show a full annual cycle, ideally two, so the pattern reads as a pattern rather than a problem.
The second is the marine and trade base that makes Broward specific. The yacht repair yards, riggers, canvas and upholstery shops, marine electricians, divers, and haul-out services along the waterways are a genuine industrial cluster, and they buy expensive equipment, carry inventory, and wait on payment. Alongside that: the hospitality corridor around the beach, the cruise terminal, and the airport; the warehouse and logistics activity near the port; residential and commercial construction and the endless renovation of an older housing stock; landscaping and tree work in a climate that grows year-round; home health care; auto repair; restaurants; cleaning; and the retail and service corridors of the county's Caribbean and Latin American neighborhoods in Hollywood, Lauderhill, Pompano Beach, North Lauderdale, Miramar, and Sunrise.
The practical takeaway: before you apply anywhere, name the problem correctly. If you are waiting to get paid, you need a line of credit or receivables financing — not a term loan and definitely not an advance against your card sales.
Forget what the banks say.
A lender is asking four things in plain terms: Can you repay? Do you have a track record? Does the business make sense in this market? And is there anything to fall back on?
Strong candidates for business financing in Broward County typically include:
- Licensed construction trades — electricians, plumbers, HVAC, roofers, concrete, tile, drywall — whether you subcontract to generals or work direct for homeowners
- Marine trades — boat repair, rigging, canvas, upholstery, detailing, marine electrical and mechanical, diving services
- Landscaping, tree, irrigation, and pressure-washing companies with route or contract work
- Restaurants, food trucks, bakeries, and caterers, including those serving events and hotels
- Cleaning and janitorial companies with hotel, office, or vacation-rental contracts
- Trucking, courier, and last-mile delivery operators who own their vehicle
- Home health care and childcare operators with the required state license
- Auto repair, body, and detail shops
- Small retail and service storefronts across the county's commercial corridors
The repeated obstacle here is not whether the business works — it is how the business reads on paper. If you are paid on 1099s, your gross looks big and your taxable net looks small after equipment, fuel, and mileage, and underwriters read the net.
If your revenue is seasonal, a flat three months looks alarming in isolation.
If your shop runs on cash and Zelle, your bank statements understate the business. If you are newly licensed or newly incorporated, you have no operating history no matter how many years you have done the work.
None of those is disqualifying. They tell you which door to try first. A national bank's scorecard says no. A community development lender or a local credit union will often look at twelve months of deposits, your contracts, your license, and your own explanation, and make a human decision.
If you hold an ITIN instead of a Social Security number, you have options — the national nonprofit lenders below lend to ITIN filers. Ask every institution directly whether they lend to ITIN holders. Many CDFIs do.
Get your papers in order.
No lender asks for all of this at once, but the owner who arrives with a complete folder gets an answer in days rather than weeks.
- 01**Government-issued photo ID**
Florida driver's license, state ID, or passport
- 02**SSN or ITIN**
- 03**Business registration**
Your fictitious name (DBA) registration or your LLC or corporation filing with the Florida Division of Corporations
- 04**EIN** from the IRS
- 05**Broward County local business tax receipt** and any city receipt your municipality requires
- 06**Sales and use tax certificate** from the Florida Department of Revenue if you sell taxable goods or services
- 07**State or county trade license**
Construction, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, cosmetology, food service, childcare, home health; Florida takes this seriously and so will your lender
- 08**Workers' compensation coverage or a valid exemption** — in construction this is not optional and lenders and general contractors both check
- 09**General liability insurance certificate**
- 10**Federal tax returns**
Personal and business, for the last two years
- 11**Business bank statements** for the last three to six months — if business income runs through a personal account, say so rather than hiding it
- 12**A one-page description of the business**
What you do, who pays you, what the money is for, how you repay it
- 13**A simple profit-and-loss**
A spreadsheet you made yourself is a legitimate start
- 14**Signed contracts
Work orders, or a backlog list** — for a contractor this often persuades more than the tax return
- 15**Accounts receivable aging** if customers owe you
- 16**Equipment and vehicle list** if you are offering collateral
The doors worth knowing.
Broward is in better shape than most counties in America: there is a community development corporation headquartered here and a community development credit union headquartered here.
ALL 18 DOORS, BY NAME AND BY TOWN- 18
- DOORS HERE
- 92
- ACROSS FL
Based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 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 Sweetwater, Florida. A member-owned credit union, which means the people deciding on your file answer to depositors in the same towns you work in. It is CDFI-certified, and it is a minority depository.
BEST FORBuying, repairing or refinancing a home, and working capital, equipment and payroll for a small business.Based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. A credit union: no shareholders to satisfy, and a habit of reading a whole story rather than a single score. It is CDFI-certified.
BEST FORWorking capital, equipment and payroll for a small business, and a personal loan, or building a credit file from nothing.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.
South Florida is one of the most heavily worked markets in the country for expensive business money. These are the patterns.
Sold as "revenue-based funding" or "same-day working capital." An MCA is not a loan — it is the sale of your future receipts at a discount, collected by daily or weekly debits. No interest rate is quoted, which is exactly why people misjudge the cost. Restaurants, shops, and salons with card volume get the heaviest pitch in this county. Last resort, never first call.
A second and third advance taken to service the first. This is the most common way a working crew in Broward goes under. If a broker offers to put another one on top, hang up.
South Florida is full of them. If someone found you from a public filing, a permit record, or a licensing list and is pushing money at you, they are paid on volume, not on your outcome. Ask who actually funds the deal and get it in writing.
A legitimate lender does not take your money before giving you money. "Processing fee," "insurance deposit," and "good-faith payment to lock the rate" are the same scam wearing different clothes.
Watch for balloon payments, end-of-term purchase options priced near the original cost, and clauses leaving you liable for equipment you returned.
After a storm, crews appear offering to handle the insurance claim and arrange the financing. Verify the license before anyone touches your roof, never sign over insurance benefits without understanding exactly what you gave up, and never pay in full before the work is complete.
If the person helping you apply suggests inflating income or hiding debt, they are creating a fraud exposure in your name.
in the United States a notary public is not an attorney and not a notario in the Latin American sense. Anyone charging cash to "gestionar" a loan or to fill out paperwork the SBDC completes free is overcharging you at best.
No real lender says the offer dies tonight. Urgency is a sales technique, not a credit term. Before you sign: what is the total amount I will repay, what is the payment and how often is it taken, and is there a penalty for paying off early? All three in writing.
Everything below is set by Florida, and it reads the same in every county in it. The 18 marks above are this county's own doors — who opens one is decided by them, not by the state.
The rules where you are.
A sole proprietor using a name other than their own registers a fictitious name with the Florida Division of Corporations; an LLC or corporation files there too. Get an **EIN** from the IRS regardless — it is free and keeps your personal number off your vendor paperwork. Florida has no personal income tax, but it does have annual entity reporting obligations, and letting those lapse administratively dissolves your company, which will stop a loan cold.
Broward County and most of its municipalities require a local business tax receipt. If you operate in more than one city, you may need more than one. Lenders ask for it.
The state licenses construction trades through its professional regulation department, with certified licenses valid statewide and registered licenses valid locally, and Broward has its own local licensing and permitting layer on top. Working unlicensed in a licensed trade carries real penalties and makes you unfinanceable. If you have been working under someone else's license, getting your own is the single highest-value business move available to you.
Florida requires workers' compensation coverage in the construction industry at a very low employee threshold, with different rules for other industries. General contractors will demand a certificate or a valid exemption before they let you on a job, and lenders look at it as a sign you are running a real operation.
If you sell taxable goods or certain services, register with the Department of Revenue and file returns even in periods with no sales. Unfiled sales tax turns into a lien, and a lien blocks financing.
Florida operates small-business assistance and economic development channels through the state's commerce and economic development agencies, and the SBDC network is the practical front door. Broward County and several of its cities run their own small-business assistance and community redevelopment programs in targeted areas. Terms and openings change, so use the SBDC as your live source rather than any directory page, this one included.
**SBA 7(a)** loans and **SBA microloans** work the same here as anywhere: delivered by participating lenders and nonprofit intermediaries, not by the SBA itself. The guarantee lowers the lender's risk; it does not remove the lender's underwriting. After a declared disaster, **SBA disaster loans** become available directly — in a hurricane-exposed county that is worth knowing before you need it.
The short version.
- 01
If you run a business or work as a subcontractor anywhere in Broward County — Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pembroke Pines, Miramar, Pompano Beach, Sunrise — you have real financing options, and unusually, two mission-driven community lenders are headquartered right here.
- 02
Start by naming your actual problem. Waiting to get paid is a line-of-credit problem. Needing a van or a machine is an equipment-financing problem. Naming it correctly is what keeps you away from a merchant cash advance.
- 03
Call Central County Community Development Corporation and We Florida Financial first, then the credit unions based in the county. Ask two questions: can I join, and do you lend to businesses like mine? If you file with an ITIN, the national nonprofits above accept it.
- 04
If you work a licensed trade, get your own license and keep your workers' compensation current. In Florida those two things do more for your financeability than anything else you can do this year.
Same county, another question.
Home FinancingPurchase, renovation, HELOC, and bridge loans for homeowners and investorsSEE IT IN BROWARD COUNTY →
Personal FinancingPersonal loans, credit building, and ITIN-friendly financing optionsSEE IT IN BROWARD COUNTY →61FL COUNTIES WITH DOORSThe whole stateEvery county in Florida, in this same lane.92 institutions fund small businesses inside Florida 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.