Home financing in Wayne County.
County-by-county financing guides. No paperwork. No social. No ID.
23 institutions are headquartered inside the Wayne County line, Detroit included, and 20 more keep a branch here. Below, we say which is which.
Not this lane? Business FinancingPersonal Financing
The doors in Wayne 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.
- 43
- DOORS HERE
- 23
- BASED HERE
- 77
- MI COUNTIES WITH DOORS
- Lane
- Home Financing
- People
- 1.8Mresidents of Wayne County
- Covers
- Detroit
- Elsewhere in MI
- Oakland County →30 doors — the biggest list of any other county in Michigan
- State
- Michigan →77 of 83 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.
Michigan First Credit Union · One Detroit 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.
A.b.d. Credit Union · Advantage One Credit Union- Advantage One Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Community Focus Credit UnionPersonal · Home
- Dfcu Financial Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Diversified Members Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Downriver Community Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- IN THIS LIST
9 of the 43 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.
- International Uaw Credit UnionPersonal · Home
- Michigan Columbus Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Michigan Legacy Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
Show the other 15Show fewer
- One Detroit Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedMinority depositoryPersonal · Home
- Orsa Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Public Service Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Shore To Shore Community Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Total Community Credit UnionPersonal · Home
- United Churches Credit UnionPersonal · Home
- Wayne-Westland Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Zeal Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Detroit Development FundCommunity lending · Business capital
- Great Lakes Womens Business CouncilSBA microlenderCommunity lending · Business capital
- Invest Detroit FoundationCommunity lending · Business capital
- Michigan Women's Foundation, TheCommunity lending · Business capital
- Prosperus Detroit Micro LendingCommunity lending · Business capital
- Michigan Women’s FoundationBusiness capital
- Michigan Women’s Foundation assumed Entrepreneur Institute of Mid-MichiganBusiness capital
Based elsewhere, with a member-facing office inside the Wayne County line. You can walk in.
- A.b.d. Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal · Home
- Advia Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Alliance Catholic Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Chief Financial Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Christian Financial Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- NO AGENDA
Nobody paid to be on this list.
The 43 doors inside the county line come off public data, and 36 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.
- Community Choice Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
Show the other 14Show fewer
- Credit Union OnePersonal · Home · Business capital
- Genisys Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Lake Michigan Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Lake Trust Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Michigan First Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Michigan State University Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- People Driven Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Polish-American Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Security Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedPersonal · Home · Business capital
- True Community Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Ukrainian Selfreliance Michigan Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- University of Michigan Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Vibe Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Wings Credit UnionPersonal · Home · 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 - 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
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.
Buying or fixing a home in Wayne County is a different problem than it is almost anywhere else, because the housing stock is old, the appraisals often come in under what the repairs cost, and land contracts are common enough that many families have signed one without ever holding a deed. This guide explains how home financing works here, how local incomes get read by underwriters, which documents to collect, which credit unions and public programs actually serve this county, and which patterns have cost Detroit families their homes.
It's a process, not a rejection.
Home financing covers more than a mortgage. In practice it is four different products, and in Wayne County most families need two of them at once:
- A purchase mortgage — a loan to buy the house, secured by the house.
- A renovation or rehab loan — money for repairs rolled into the purchase loan, or a separate home-improvement loan.
- A refinance — replacing your current loan, usually to lower the payment or pull out equity.
- Down payment assistance — a second loan or forgivable grant that covers part of your cash to close.
The local wrinkle is age and appraisal. Much of Wayne County's housing was built long before the current codes — solid brick and frame houses in Detroit's neighborhoods, in Dearborn, in Hamtramck's surrounding blocks, in the Downriver towns.
Many of them need a roof, a furnace, a service upgrade, or all three.
Meanwhile appraised values in parts of the county run below what the work costs. That gap is the single most common reason a Wayne County deal falls apart, and the reason rehab financing and down payment assistance matter more here than in most markets.
The second wrinkle is competition from cash. Investors buy here in volume with no financing, which means a mortgage-backed offer can lose to a lower cash offer on speed alone. That is not a reason to buy without a loan. It is a reason to get fully pre-approved before you shop, so your offer moves as fast as paperwork allows.
Forget what the banks say.
Underwriters are weighing four things: stable income, credit history, cash to close, and the house itself. The house matters more than people expect — a lender will decline a property it considers unsafe even if your file is clean.
How your income reads depends on how you earn it:
- Hourly plant, warehouse and airport work. Steady W-2 income with overtime is the easiest file to underwrite. Bring the pay stubs that show the overtime, because a lender may count a documented pattern of it.
- Skilled trades and 1099 subcontracting. Self-employment usually means two years of tax returns plus a profit-and-loss statement. If you have written off aggressively, your taxable income is what counts, not your gross — worth a conversation with whoever prepares your return before you apply.
- Restaurant, salon and retail work with cash tips. Undocumented cash does not count as income. Depositing tips consistently over a year turns them into something an underwriter can use.
- Multiple household earners. Combining incomes is normal and often decisive here. Be clear about who will be on the loan and who will be on the deed — they do not have to be the same people, but the difference has real consequences.
- Rental income on a two-family. Wayne County has a lot of duplexes. Some loan programs let projected rent from the second unit help you qualify.
If you file taxes with an ITIN, home financing is harder than business financing but not impossible — some credit unions and community institutions hold ITIN mortgages in their own portfolio rather than selling them. That is a direct question to ask, institution by institution. Do not assume, and do not let anyone charge you to find out.
Get your papers in order.
A mortgage file is heavier than any other kind of loan application. Assembling it in advance is the difference between a three-week close and a three-month one:
- 01Government-issued photo ID, and your ITIN or Social Security Number
- 02Two years of W-2s
Or two years of tax returns if self-employed
- 03Your last 30 days of pay stubs
- 04Two to three months of bank and retirement statements — every page, including the blank ones
- 05A profit-and-loss statement and 1099s if you work for yourself
- 06Proof of any other income
Child support, disability, pension, second job
- 07A written gift letter if a family member is helping with the down payment
- 08Twelve months of rent payment history, especially if your credit file is thin
- 09The purchase agreement once you are under contract
- 10Homeowners insurance quote, including any required flood coverage
- 11For a rehab loan
Contractor bids, a scope of work, and the contractor's license number
- MISSING ONE?Ask Iris which one you're missing.ASK A QUESTION ↓
The doors worth knowing.
Start with a credit union or a nonprofit housing counselor, not with an online ad. Both will tell you the truth about what you can afford before you fall in love with a house.
ALL 43 DOORS, BY NAME AND BY TOWN- 43
- DOORS HERE
- 127
- ACROSS MI
Based in Lathrup Village, Michigan. 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 Detroit, Michigan. 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 a personal loan, or building a credit file from nothing.Based in Romulus, Michigan. 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 Rochester Hills, Michigan. 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.
Wayne County has a specific set of housing traps, and they are more dangerous than the generic ones.
A land contract is a seller-financed purchase where the seller keeps legal title until you have paid in full. Some are legitimate. Many here are structured so that a single late payment lets the seller take the house back and keep everything you paid, with no foreclosure process and no equity to you. If you are considering one, have a lawyer or a HUD-approved counselor read it first, insist the contract be recorded, and confirm the seller actually owns the property and is current on the taxes.
Same trap with a friendlier name.
A cheap house with a failed roof and stolen plumbing is not cheap. Get a walkthrough with someone who does this work.
In rehab work, never pay the full amount up front. Pay against completed milestones, use a licensed builder, and keep the written scope.
Nobody legitimate asks you to sign a quitclaim deed to fix your mortgage, stop a foreclosure, or lower your taxes. That request is how people lose houses.
Free help exists. Anyone charging you in advance to save your home is taking advantage of a crisis.
A real lender and a real seller will both survive you taking the weekend to read the documents.
Everything below is set by Michigan, and it reads the same in every county in it. The 43 marks above are this county's own doors — who opens one is decided by them, not by the state.
The rules where you are.
Three Michigan mechanics deserve your attention before you sign anything.
First, the principal residence exemption. Michigan taxes an owner-occupied primary home at a lower school-operating rate than a rental or a second home. You have to claim it with the local assessor — it does not apply automatically when you buy. Families have overpaid for years by not filing that one form.
Second, tax foreclosure. Property taxes here are collected locally and delinquent parcels move through the county treasurer's office on a fixed multi-year cycle that ends in a tax auction. If you are buying an occupied house from a private seller, verify the tax status in the county records yourself. If you are buying at auction, understand that you may be buying a property with occupants, no interior inspection, and no warranty of condition.
Third, state programs. Michigan's housing development authority does not lend to you directly — it works through approved lenders, so the way in is to ask a lender whether it participates. The state also funds homeowner repair and lead-abatement help through local agencies, and there is no fee to ask about eligibility. Anyone charging you for access to a state program is charging you for a phone number.
A fourth point on paperwork: Michigan records deeds at the county register of deeds. A deed that never gets recorded gives you almost nothing. Confirm recording after closing rather than assuming it happened.
The short version.
- 01
Buying a home in Wayne County is very doable, but the order of operations matters more here than almost anywhere else.
- 02
Make your first appointment with a HUD-approved housing counselor — it is free, and they will tell you honestly what you can carry. Then get a real pre-approval from a credit union based in or branched into this county, because local institutions that keep loans in their own portfolio are the ones that can finance an older house with an awkward appraisal. Ask specifically about rehab financing and down payment assistance, and ask whether they lend to ITIN filers if that applies to you.
- 03
Before you commit to any property, check the tax status yourself, ask about unpaid water and sewer balances, and never accept a land contract without a lawyer or counselor reading it and without confirming the contract will be recorded.
- 04
Do not sign anything the same day you first see it. Get at least two loan quotes. Walk away from anyone who charges you in advance, pressures you to move fast, or asks you to sign a deed you do not understand.
Same county, another question.
Business FinancingLoans, lines of credit, and capital for small businesses and contractorsSEE IT IN WAYNE COUNTY →
Personal FinancingPersonal loans, credit building, and ITIN-friendly financing optionsSEE IT IN WAYNE COUNTY →77MI COUNTIES WITH DOORSThe whole stateEvery county in Michigan, in this same lane.127 institutions fund homes and repairs inside Michigan 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.