Business financing in Clackamas County.
County-by-county financing guides. No paperwork. No social. No ID.
4 institutions are headquartered inside the Clackamas County line, and 6 more keep a branch here. Below, we say which is which.
Not this lane? Home FinancingPersonal Financing
The doors in Clackamas 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
- 4
- BASED HERE
- 32
- OR COUNTIES WITH DOORS
- Lane
- Business Financing
- People
- 421Kresidents of Clackamas County
- Elsewhere in OR
- Multnomah County →22 doors — the biggest list of any other county in Oregon
- State
- Oregon →32 of 36 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.
Rivermark Community Credit Union · Cutting Edge 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.
Embold Credit Union · Hapo Community Credit Union- Embold Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Rivermark Community Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Cutting Edge Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedPersonal · Home
- Forrit Credit UnionPersonal · Home
Based elsewhere, with a member-facing office inside the Clackamas County line. You can walk in.
- Hapo Community Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Marion and Polk Schools Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Operating Engineers Local Union #3 Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Ukrainian Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Unitus Community Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- IN THIS LIST
2 of the 10 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.
- Nw Priority 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.
Clackamas County runs from the Portland suburbs of Milwaukie, Oregon City, and Happy Valley out through nursery rows, Christmas tree farms, and the timber and recreation country toward Mount Hood. That spread shapes how small businesses here earn and borrow. This guide explains how business financing works in Clackamas County, who tends to qualify, what paperwork to gather, which credit unions are actually based in the county, and which national ITIN-friendly nonprofits can help when a bank says no. It closes with Oregon-specific notes and the traps worth walking away from.
It's a process, not a rejection.
Business financing is money you use to start, run, or grow your work: a term loan you repay on a schedule, a line of credit you draw on when a job needs materials before the client pays, an equipment loan for a truck or an excavator, or a microloan for a smaller first step. A loan has to be repaid. A grant does not, but grants for small private businesses are rare and usually tied to a specific program.
Clackamas County is really several economies sharing one county line. The north end is suburban Portland: Milwaukie, Oregon City, Gladstone, Happy Valley, Lake Oswego, West Linn, and the Clackamas commercial area along the I-205 corridor.
That is where remodelers, roofers, landscapers, cleaning crews, food businesses, and auto shops find steady work from homeowners and commercial clients.
To the south, around Canby and Molalla, the economy leans on nurseries, greenhouses, and farms, where work rises and falls with the growing and shipping seasons. To the east, toward Estacada and Sandy and up the Highway 26 corridor, timber, outdoor recreation, and the tourism that comes with Mount Hood carry a lot of small operators.
That matters because lenders read your income through the lens of how it comes in. A remodeling contractor with year-round residential jobs looks different from a nursery crew boss whose cash peaks in spring, or a mountain lodge supplier whose season follows the snow.
Good financing matches the shape of your income.
A line of credit can carry a landscaper through winter. An equipment loan fits a crew that needs a new trailer before the busy season. A small microloan can be the right first step for someone who has worked under another contractor and is going independent.
Forget what the banks say.
Every lender looks at the same core questions: can you repay, how have you handled credit before, how long have you been doing this work, and does your plan make sense for the market you serve. In Clackamas County, the people who most often walk into a credit union or nonprofit lender looking for business money include:
- Construction and remodeling contractors working in the suburban neighborhoods of the north county, many paid by check or bank transfer on 1099 forms
- Landscapers, tree crews, and irrigation installers whose income is heavy in the warm months and thin in winter
- Nursery, greenhouse, and farm labor contractors and small growers in the south county whose income follows the planting and shipping calendar
- Cleaning services, food trucks, small restaurants, and storefront businesses along the commercial corridors
- Truck owner-operators and haulers tied to the I-205 and Highway 213 traffic
- Small landlords who own a duplex or a few rental doors and want to repair or improve them
If your work is seasonal, that is not a strike against you. It just means you should show a full year of deposits so the lender sees both the busy and slow months, not just one snapshot.
If you have an ITIN instead of a Social Security number, you are not automatically shut out. Some lenders work with ITIN borrowers and some do not, so ask directly.
If your credit history is thin or new, a microloan or a credit-building product is often the most realistic first door.
You do not need perfect credit. You need a believable plan for repayment and records that back it up.
Get your papers in order.
Each lender has its own checklist, but these come up on almost every small-business application. Getting them together before you apply saves weeks.
- 01Government-issued photo ID
- 02Social Security number or ITIN
- 03Oregon business registration
Assumed business name filing, or LLC paperwork
- 04Your Construction Contractors Board license number if you do construction work in Oregon
- 05Personal tax returns for the last two years
Plus business returns if you file them separately
- 06Business bank statements covering a full season cycle — for seasonal work, a full year tells the real story
- 071099 forms from the general contractors, nurseries, or clients who pay you
- 08A simple profit-and-loss statement, even one you put together yourself
- 09List of equipment
Vehicles, and tools you own, if you are offering collateral
- 10One-page description of your business
What you do, who pays you, and how the loan will help you earn more
- MISSING ONE?Ask Iris which one you're missing.ASK A QUESTION ↓
The doors worth knowing.
Clackamas County has a real local credit union base, which is better than many counties of its size. Start with the institutions that are actually headquartered here, then widen out. Mission-minded credit unions based in the county.
ALL 10 DOORS, BY NAME AND BY TOWN- 10
- DOORS HERE
- 44
- ACROSS OR
Based in Oregon City, Oregon. A credit union — owned by its members rather than by shareholders, which is exactly what changes the conversation after a bank has said no. It is CDFI-certified.
BEST FORA personal loan, or building a credit file from nothing, and buying, repairing or refinancing a home.Based in Oregon City, Oregon. A member-owned credit union, which means the people deciding on your file answer to depositors in the same towns you work in.
BEST FORBuying, repairing or refinancing a home, and working capital, equipment and payroll for a small business.Based in Richland, Washington. 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 Rochester, New York. 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.
Contractors and seasonal operators are a favorite target for expensive money, especially right before the busy season when cash is tight. Watch for these:
These are sold as fast business funding, but they are purchases of your future sales at a steep discount, often pulled daily or weekly from your account. For a landscaper heading into winter or a nursery crew between seasons, those daily pulls can drain the account fast.
Taking a second advance to cover the first is how many small businesses end up in a hole they cannot climb out of.
A legitimate lender does not ask you to pay a large fee before you receive the money. Fees for an appraisal or credit report should be explained in writing.
Many business loans require a personal guarantee. That can put your home or truck on the line. Read it before you sign.
An offer that expires today, a broker who will not put terms in writing, or a caller who promises approval before seeing your records are all reasons to walk away.
In Oregon, a notario público is not a lawyer and cannot give legal or financial advice. Be careful with anyone who charges to prepare loan or immigration paperwork based on that title.
Everything below is set by Oregon, 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.
A few Oregon rules shape what lenders will ask for:
Most businesses that operate under a name other than the owner's legal name, and every LLC or corporation, register with the Oregon Secretary of State's Corporation Division. Lenders will want to see that registration.
In Oregon, anyone paid to do construction, remodeling, or repair work on property generally needs a license from the Construction Contractors Board, which also requires a bond and insurance. A CCB license is one of the first things a lender or a general contractor will ask about. If you have been working under someone else's license, getting your own is a natural first step before borrowing.
Some cities in the county require their own business license on top of state registration. Check with the city where you are based.
Business Oregon, the state's economic development agency, works with lenders and local partners on small-business capital, and the state's Small Business Development Center network is a free starting point for building a plan. Farm and nursery operators can also look to the Oregon Department of Agriculture for licensing and program information.
Oregon's Division of Financial Regulation oversees many non-bank lenders. If you are unsure whether a lender is licensed, that office is a reasonable place to ask.
The short version.
- 01
If you run a business or work as an independent contractor in Clackamas County, you have more local doors than many places. Four credit unions are headquartered inside the county, two of them certified CDFIs, and several more keep branches here.
- 02
Start by getting organized: your Oregon registration, your CCB license if you build, a year of bank statements that shows your seasons, and a one-page plan. Then talk to one of the county's own credit unions and one national nonprofit, and compare. If you use an ITIN, ask each lender plainly whether they lend to ITIN holders.
- 03
Take your time, get every offer in writing, and do not let anyone rush you.
- 04
Origen Capital is a directory, not a lender. We do not collect your information or sell you any financial product. Use this guide as a starting point, and work directly with a licensed lender, credit union, or CDFI when you are ready to apply.
Same county, another question.
Home FinancingPurchase, renovation, HELOC, and bridge loans for homeowners and investorsSEE IT IN CLACKAMAS COUNTY →
Personal FinancingPersonal loans, credit building, and ITIN-friendly financing optionsSEE IT IN CLACKAMAS COUNTY →32OR COUNTIES WITH DOORSThe whole stateEvery county in Oregon, in this same lane.44 institutions fund small businesses inside Oregon 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.