Business financing in Hays County.
County-by-county financing guides. No paperwork. No social. No ID.
No institution is headquartered inside the Hays County line, but 5 keep an office open here. They are below, by name and by town.
Not this lane? Home FinancingPersonal Financing
The doors in Hays 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.
- 5
- DOORS HERE
- 0
- BASED HERE
- 99
- TX COUNTIES WITH DOORS
- Lane
- Business Financing
- People
- 241Kresidents of Hays County
- Elsewhere in TX
- Harris County →50 doors — the biggest list of any other county in Texas
- State
- Texas →99 of 254 counties hold a door in this lane
Based elsewhere, with a member-facing office inside the Hays County line. You can walk in.
- A+ Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Greater Texas Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Security Service Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- University Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Government Employees 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.
Hays County sits on the I-35 corridor between Austin and San Antonio — San Marcos and its university, the fast-built suburbs of Kyle and Buda, and the Hill Country towns of Dripping Springs and Wimberley. If you run a framing crew, a landscaping route, a food truck, a venue or a storefront here, this guide explains the kinds of business financing that exist, who qualifies, which documents you need, which institutions actually serve the county, the Texas rules that catch contractors, and the offers to walk away from.
It's a process, not a rejection.
Business financing comes in a few shapes, and picking the wrong one is what hurts people.
- A term loan — a fixed amount on a fixed schedule. For a work truck, a trailer, a mower fleet, a food-truck build-out.
- A line of credit — an approved ceiling you draw from and repay again and again. The tool for the gap between finishing a job and getting paid.
- Equipment financing — a loan secured by the machine itself, easier to get than unsecured credit.
- A microloan — a smaller loan, usually from a nonprofit lender, built for the business a bank's automated system declines.
- A grant — money you do not repay. Real ones are competitive and never arrive by text message.
Hays County, home to 241,067 people, is one of the places the Austin–San Antonio corridor has grown fastest, and its small-business economy follows that growth. Along I-35, Kyle, Buda and San Marcos keep adding subdivisions, apartments, warehouses and retail, and the crews that build them — framing, concrete, roofing, drywall, plumbing, electrical, fencing, landscaping, irrigation — work as 1099 subcontractors for builders and general contractors.
Many of those crews are Spanish-speaking.
San Marcos adds a university town's economy of restaurants, food trucks, bars, student rentals and retail, plus the outlet malls and river tourism.
West of the interstate, Dripping Springs and Wimberley run on Hill Country tourism — wedding venues, wineries, breweries, distilleries, short-term rentals — and on ranches and custom-home building.
Each of those has a different money problem. A trades crew needs a line of credit because builders pay slowly and sometimes hold back retainage. A food truck or restaurant near campus has revenue that follows the academic calendar.
A venue or short-term rental business is seasonal and weekend-heavy.
A landscaping or pool route with monthly customers has steadier revenue than it often realizes. And Central Texas weather — hail, flash floods along the Blanco and San Marcos rivers — sends roofing and restoration work through the county in bursts.
Forget what the banks say.
Every lender asks four things: can you repay, have you repaid before, how long have you been doing this, and does the work make sense here.
- 01**The 1099 subcontractor working for builders
** Two years of returns plus deposits that line up with your invoices turns lumpy income into something an underwriter can read. Keep your contracts, lien waivers and retainage records — they prove the work is steady even when the deposits are not.
- 02**The crew lead getting paid in cash and paying helpers in cash.** This is the most common reason a capable crew cannot borrow.
Cash that never touches a business account does not exist to a lender. Moving payroll and receipts through a bank account is the first loan application.
- 03**The landscaping
Fencing or pool route.** Recurring monthly customers in new subdivisions are close to the best collateral a service business has. Bring the customer list.
- 04**The food truck or campus-area restaurant
** Lenders will want a full year of sales, including summer and holiday breaks, not just the busy semester.
- 05**The Hill Country venue
Short-term rental or craft beverage business.** Seasonal and capital-heavy. Bring booking calendars and deposits on future events.
- 06**The licensed electrician
Plumber or HVAC tech going independent.** A state license plus a work history is a strong starting file.
- 07**The rancher or small farm operator
** Cattle, goats and hay operations should start with the Farm Service Agency and USDA Rural Development.
- 08**The business under two years old
** Most banks will decline. Credit unions and nonprofit lenders will not automatically.
Get your papers in order.
Gather these once into one folder and you can apply to three lenders in the time it usually takes to apply to one.
- 01Government photo ID
Texas driver license or ID card, passport, or a consular ID where the lender accepts it
- 02Your ITIN or Social Security number
- 03Entity filing with the Texas Secretary of State
Or your assumed name certificate from the county clerk if you are a sole proprietor using a business name
- 04Your sales and use tax permit from the Texas Comptroller if you sell taxable goods or services
- 05State trade license if you do electrical
Plumbing, air conditioning or irrigation work
- 06Two years of personal tax returns, plus business returns if any exist
- 07Three to six months of business bank statements
The single document that decides most files
- 08A simple profit-and-loss statement, even one you typed yourself
- 09One page describing the business
What you do, who pays you, what the money is for, how you repay it
- 10Contracts
Purchase orders, retainage statements, event bookings or recurring-service agreements showing money coming in
- 11Certificate of liability insurance
And proof of workers' compensation if you carry it
- 12Vehicle titles and an equipment list if you are offering collateral
- 13For a food business
Your health permit and, for a food truck, your commissary agreement
- MISSING ONE?Ask Iris which one you're missing.ASK A QUESTION ↓
The doors worth knowing.
The honest picture first: no institution in this directory is based inside the Hays County line. No credit union, no community development lender, no nonprofit microlender is headquartered here.
ALL 5 DOORS, BY NAME AND BY TOWN- 5
- DOORS HERE
- 117
- ACROSS TX
Based in Austin, Texas. 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.Based in Austin, Texas. 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 San Antonio, Texas. 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 Austin, Texas. 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 phone call, funding in two days, only bank statements required. It is not a loan — it is the sale of your future deposits at a discount, repaid by daily withdrawals that do not pause when a builder holds your retainage or a rainy month stalls your jobs. Before you sign one, call a credit union or a nonprofit lender on this page.
A legitimate lender takes its fee out of the funded loan, not from your card in advance.
One broker can produce a dozen hard inquiries. Apply yourself, to two or three named institutions.
In Texas construction, a waiver signed in advance can give away your right to collect. Sign the waiver that matches the payment you actually received.
Read the total of payments, not the monthly. Ask what you own when it is over.
Real grant programs never ask for a fee to release funds.
Real lenders do not have offers that expire at five o'clock. Ask plainly what can be taken if you miss a payment — your truck, your trailer, your tools.
Everything below is set by Texas, and it reads the same in every county in it. The 5 marks above are this county's own doors — who opens one is decided by them, not by the state.
The rules where you are.
Texas is a light-touch state to start a business in, and that cuts both ways.
LLCs and corporations file with the Texas Secretary of State. A sole proprietor doing business under any name other than their own files an assumed name certificate with the county clerk. Lenders ask for whichever applies.
If you sell taxable goods or services, you need a sales and use tax permit from the Comptroller. LLCs and corporations also file an annual franchise tax report — many small businesses owe nothing, but must still file. Missing that report can cost an entity its good standing, and lenders check. Texas has no state personal income tax.
Texas does not license general contractors or roofers at the state level, but it does license electricians, plumbers, air conditioning and refrigeration contractors, and landscape irrigators. Working in a licensed trade without the license is a serious problem. Cities in Hays set their own permit and registration rules, so check with the city before you pull a permit.
Texas is unusual: most private employers may choose not to carry workers' comp. But many builders and general contractors require it of their subs, public projects generally require it, and a crew without it carries the full risk of an injury. Know what your contracts demand.
Subcontractors and suppliers who want to protect their right to a lien must send written notices on a monthly schedule tied to when the work was done. Miss a notice and the leverage is gone. If you do residential work, the rules are tighter still. Learn them before you need them.
Hail and flash flooding hit this part of Texas. Insurance on your equipment, your vehicles and your shop is part of being financeable. State economic development programs reach small firms mostly through lenders and nonprofit partners. The Texas SBDC network is the free front door.
The short version.
- 01
Hays County has no shortage of building, new customers and small-business work — and no lender headquartered inside its line. That means the work is local but the doors are regional: credit union branches from Austin and San Antonio, and national nonprofit lenders that accept ITIN filers.
- 02
Open a business checking account and run everything through it, including the cash. Build the document folder above. Get your registration, sales tax permit, franchise tax report and any state trade license in order. Then call two of the credit unions with branches in the county and one of the national nonprofit lenders, and compare what they say. Use the free SBDC and SCORE help before you borrow rather than after — and ask the SBDC which community lenders in the larger metros reach Hays.
- 03
You do not need perfect credit, a Social Security number, or two years in business to get a real conversation. Skip the merchant cash advance. Never sign a lien waiver for money you have not received.
- 04
Origen Capital is a directory, not a lender. We do not collect your information, we do not sell it, and we do not take applications. Use this page as a map, then work directly with a licensed lender, a credit union or a nonprofit community lender when you are ready.
Same county, another question.
Home FinancingPurchase, renovation, HELOC, and bridge loans for homeowners and investorsSEE IT IN HAYS COUNTY →
Personal FinancingPersonal loans, credit building, and ITIN-friendly financing optionsSEE IT IN HAYS COUNTY →99TX COUNTIES WITH DOORSThe whole stateEvery county in Texas, in this same lane.117 institutions fund small businesses inside Texas 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.