Business financing in Fayette County.
County-by-county financing guides. No paperwork. No social. No ID.
5 institutions are headquartered inside the Fayette County line, Lexington included, and 5 more keep a branch here. Below, we say which is which.
Not this lane? Home FinancingPersonal Financing
The doors in Fayette 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.
- 10
- DOORS HERE
- 5
- BASED HERE
- 42
- KY COUNTIES WITH DOORS
- Lane
- Business Financing
- People
- 323Kresidents of Fayette County
- Covers
- Lexington
- Elsewhere in KY
- Jefferson County →16 doors — the biggest list of any other county in Kentucky
- State
- Kentucky →42 of 120 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.
Community Ventures Corporation, Inc. · Y-12 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.
Ashland Credit Union · Commonwealth Credit Union- Community Ventures Corporation, Inc.SBA microlenderCommunity lending · Business capital
- University of Kentucky Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Greater Kentucky Cu, Inc.Personal · Home
- Lexington Postal Community Credit UnionPersonal · Home
- Metro Plus Credit UnionPersonal · Home
Based elsewhere, with a member-facing office inside the Fayette County line. You can walk in.
- Ashland Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Commonwealth Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Park Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Y-12 Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Transcend 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 (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.
This guide walks solo contractors and small real-estate investors in Fayette County, Kentucky through the core financing options available locally — from community lenders and credit unions to ITIN-friendly institutions and state-backed programs. It names real local intermediaries that serve this region, explains what documents you typically need, and flags the warning signs of predatory lending. Whether you are just starting out or ready to grow, this guide helps you take the next step with confidence and without pressure.
- 10
- DOORS HERE
- 30
- ACROSS KY
Based in Lexington, Kentucky. 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. It lends SBA microloan money.
BEST FORCommunity lending where a bank has already said no, and working capital, equipment and payroll for a small business.Based in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. 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.
BEST FORBuying, repairing or refinancing a home, and working capital, equipment and payroll for a small business.Based in Ashland, Kentucky. A credit union: no shareholders to satisfy, and a habit of reading a whole story rather than a single score.
BEST FORWorking capital, equipment and payroll for a small business, and a personal loan, or building a credit file from nothing.Based in Lexington, Kentucky. 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.Everything below is set by Kentucky, and it reads the same in every county in it. The 10 marks above are this county's own doors — who opens one is decided by them, not by the state.
The rules where you are.
None of this is set by a lender. Kentucky sets it, and it applies the same in every county in the state — which is why it is worth knowing before you knock on any of the doors above.
- BUSINESS TAX4.0%
What Kentucky charges on top of federal. It is the first thing a lender reconciles when your numbers do not match your tax return.
- CORPORATE INCOME TAX5.0%
It depends on how the business is registered. A sole proprietor almost never pays it — worth knowing which side of that line you are on before you apply.
- SALES TAX6.0% state · no local
What you collect on a job, and what your materials cost. It is the gap between a bid that holds and one that does not.
- WHERE THE MONEY IS HEREBourbon & Distilled Spirits · Automotive Manufacturing · Equine & Horse Racing
Kentucky's three biggest sectors. A local lender reads your file against them — a trade that serves these is a trade they already understand.
Sources: Tax Foundation 2025 · Census ACS 5-year 2023 · BEA/MERIC COLI 2024 · Zillow 2026-Q1. As of 2026-04.
The short version.
- 01
10 doors sit inside the Fayette County line. They are up the page, by name and by town — and none of them paid to be there.
- 02
2 of them are certified by the U.S. Treasury as CDFIs. Lending where a bank will not is their mandate, not a favour.
- 03
This page did not ask you for a name, an email, or a number, and nothing on it changes based on who you are.
- 04
42 of Kentucky's 120 counties hold a door in this lane. If Fayette County does not have the one you need, the whole state is one click away.
Same county, another question.
Home FinancingPurchase, renovation, HELOC, and bridge loans for homeowners and investorsSEE IT IN FAYETTE COUNTY →
Personal FinancingPersonal loans, credit building, and ITIN-friendly financing optionsSEE IT IN FAYETTE COUNTY →42KY COUNTIES WITH DOORSThe whole stateEvery county in Kentucky, in this same lane.30 institutions fund small businesses inside Kentucky 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.