Home financing in New York County.
County-by-county financing guides. No paperwork. No social. No ID.
47 institutions are headquartered inside the New York County line, New York included, and 4 more keep a branch here. Below, we say which is which.
Not this lane? Business FinancingPersonal Financing
The doors in New York 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.
- 51
- DOORS HERE
- 47
- BASED HERE
- 56
- NY COUNTIES WITH DOORS
- Lane
- Home Financing
- People
- 1.7Mresidents of New York County
- Covers
- New York
- Elsewhere in NY
- Erie County →19 doors — the biggest list of any other county in New York
- State
- New York →56 of 62 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.
I Am Credit Union · Lower East Side People's 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.
Actors Credit Union · Greater Metro Credit Union- Actors Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- I Am Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedMinority depositoryPersonal · Home
- Lower East Side People's Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedMinority depositoryPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Municipal Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal · Home
- Neighborhood Trust Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedMinority depositoryPersonal · Home · Business capital
- IN THIS LIST
34 of the 51 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.
- New York University Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedMinority depositoryPersonal · Home
- Ukrainian National Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- AAFE Community Development FundCommunity lending · Business capital
Show the other 39Show fewer
- Ascendus Inc.SBA microlenderCommunity lending · Business capital
- Community Development Trust, LP, TheCommunity lending · Business capital
- Community Preservation CorporationCommunity lending · Business capital
- Corporation for Supportive HousingCommunity lending · Business capital
- Grameen America, Inc.Community lending · Business capital
- Habitat for Humanity NYC Fund, Inc.Community lending · Business capital
- Harlem Entrepreneurial Fund, LLCSBA microlenderCommunity lending · Business capital
- Homeownership Lending LLCCommunity lending · Business capital
- Inclusiv IncCommunity lending · Business capital
- IRC's Center For Economic Opportunity, Inc. (CEO)Community lending · Business capital
- Local Initiatives Support CorporationCommunity lending · Business capital
- Neighborhood Housing Services of New York City, Inc.Community lending · Business capital
- Nonprofit Finance FundCommunity lending · Business capital
- Primary Care Development CorporationCommunity lending · Business capital
- Renaissance Economic Development CorporationSBA microlenderCommunity lending · Business capital
- Sustainable Neighborhoods LLCCommunity lending · Business capital
- The Community Development Trust, Inc.Community lending · Business capital
- The Urban Empowerment FundCommunity lending · Business capital
- The Working World, Inc. dba Seed CommonsCommunity lending · Business capital
- TruFund Financial Services, Inc.Community lending · Business capital
- Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development CorporationCommunity lending · Business capital
- Vital Healthcare CapitalCommunity lending · Business capital
- Women's Venture Fund, Inc.Community lending · Business capital
- Abyssinian Baptist Church Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedMinority depositoryPersonal
- Carver Federal Savings BankPersonal · Business capital
- Church of the Master Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedMinority depositoryPersonal
- Empirt 207 Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal
- Fidelis Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedPersonal
- Finest Federal Credit Union, TheCDFI-certifiedPersonal
- New York Episcopal Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal
- Penn South Cooperative Credit UnionPersonal
- Southern Baptist Church of New York Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal
- St. Philip's Church Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal
- The Finest Credit UnionPersonal
- Transit Authority Division B Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal
- Urban Empowerment Credit UnionMinority depositoryPersonal
- Accompany CapitalBusiness capital
- Community Development Venture Capital Alliance, TheBusiness capital
- PursuitBusiness capital
Based elsewhere, with a member-facing office inside the New York County line. You can walk in.
- Greater Metro Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Justice Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Ny Firefighters Bravest Credit UnionPersonal · Home
- Xcel 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
Nobody paid to be on this list.
The 51 doors inside the county line come off public data, and 23 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.
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.
In New York County — Manhattan — most apartments are not real estate. They are shares in a cooperative corporation, which means you are not getting a mortgage; you are getting a co-op share loan, and a board gets a vote on you after the lender says yes. This guide explains that system in plain language, along with condos, income-restricted HDFC co-ops, how Manhattan lenders read cash and 1099 income, which institutions are headquartered in the borough, the New York closing costs nobody warns you about, and the traps aimed at people with equity.
It's a process, not a rejection.
New York County and Manhattan are the same place, and home financing here does not resemble home financing anywhere else in America.
Most apartments in this borough are cooperatives. When you buy a co-op you do not buy property — you buy shares in a corporation that owns the building, plus a proprietary lease giving you the right to live in your apartment.
Because there is no real estate involved, you are not getting a mortgage.
You are getting a co-op share loan, and fewer institutions write them than write ordinary mortgages. Then comes the part that surprises everyone: after a lender approves you, the building's board reviews a package about your finances and your life, interviews you, and can decline you. Boards commonly require a larger down payment than the lender does, and want to see liquid savings left over after you close.
A condominium is different. A condo is real property, you get a conventional mortgage, and the board generally has only a right of first refusal rather than a veto. Condos are usually more expensive than comparable co-ops for exactly this reason.
There is a third category that matters a great deal here and is almost never explained: income-restricted cooperatives, often called HDFC co-ops.
They are priced far below the market, they carry income limits and resale restrictions, and not every lender will finance them.
The institutions most likely to do so are local credit unions and community banks — several of which are headquartered in this borough.
And one honest thing. Most people reading this page rent in Manhattan and will buy, if they buy, somewhere with lower prices. That is not a failure; it is arithmetic. Many of the institutions below lend across the region, not only inside this county. Ask each one where it lends, not only where it sits.
Forget what the banks say.
A lender is asking whether your income is real and durable, whether your total debt is manageable, and whether the property supports the loan. A co-op board is asking something broader and less predictable: can this household carry this apartment comfortably, with a cushion. You need to satisfy both.
- Steady W-2 work — city or transit employment, a hospital, a school, building services, a union job — documents fastest and reads best to a board
- Trade and interior-construction income is normal here. Bring a full year, not the good months, and ask about averaging
- 1099 and platform work, including for-hire driving, is judged on what you reported after deductions, not what you grossed. Heavy write-offs lower your taxes and shrink what you qualify for. If you intend to buy, plan that trade-off two tax years out
- Cash income is the hardest case in the country's hardest market. If it never entered an account and never appeared on a return, neither a lender nor a board can count it. Start depositing now
- Mixed-status households are common. If one person has a Social Security number and another an ITIN, ask each institution how it treats a joint application
- Boards look at savings after closing, not only income. Two households with identical pay can get opposite answers because one kept a cushion
Thin credit is not bad credit. Community development credit unions will build a file from rent, utility and phone history, and will do a manual review where an automated system just says no. Ask for that by name.
On ITIN borrowers: ITIN mortgages and share loans exist, as portfolio loans an institution keeps on its own books. In a co-op you face two gates rather than one, so the practical advice is to ask the lender first, and to ask whether they have closed a co-op share loan for an ITIN borrower in this borough before. In a condo, or a one-to-four family house in another part of the region, the second gate largely disappears.
Get your papers in order.
This is the heaviest file in this guide, and in a co-op purchase you assemble it twice: once for the lender, once for the board.
- 01Government photo ID
Ask whether the institution accepts IDNYC or a consular ID
- 02ITIN or SSN for everyone on the loan
- 03Two years of tax returns
Complete with schedules, plus W-2s or 1099s
- 04Recent pay stubs
Or a year-to-date profit-and-loss sheet if self-employed, plus platform statements if you drive
- 05Two to three months of statements for every account, including retirement and investment accounts.
Be ready to explain any large non-payroll deposit
- 06Proof of the down payment and its source
Family gift money needs a signed letter stating it is a gift, not a loan
- 07Twelve months of rent history
Canceled checks, transfers, or a landlord letter
- 08A personal financial statement listing assets and liabilities.
The board will want this even if the lender does not
- 09Reference letters
Co-op boards commonly ask for personal and professional references, and an employment verification letter
- 10For an HDFC co-op
Income documentation for every household member, because eligibility is based on household income against a limit
- 11Insurance
A renters-style policy for a co-op unit, a homeowner's policy for a condo, and a flood determination if the building is in a coastal zone
- MISSING ONE?Ask Iris which one you're missing.ASK A QUESTION ↓
The doors worth knowing.
Manhattan has an enormous number of certified community development institutions headquartered inside it.
ALL 51 DOORS, BY NAME AND BY TOWN- 51
- DOORS HERE
- 100
- ACROSS NY
Based in New York, 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. It is CDFI-certified, and it is a minority depository.
BEST FORA personal loan, or building a credit file from nothing, and buying, repairing or refinancing a home.Based in New York, New York. 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 New York, New York. A credit union: no shareholders to satisfy, and a habit of reading a whole story rather than a single score. It is CDFI-certified, and it is a minority depository.
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.
If a person offers to "hold," "repair" or "protect" your title, or to take the apartment temporarily to stop a foreclosure or an arrears problem, stop the conversation. Families lose homes this way. Free HUD-approved counseling exists for precisely this moment.
An apartment held for decades in this borough is a large asset and attracts fast offers and fast paperwork. Get independent legal advice before transferring anything.
In a co-op, the building's finances are part of what you are buying. Skipping that review to move quickly in a competitive market is the most expensive shortcut available here.
A cash-out refinance that clears credit cards and resets your loan for another thirty years can cost far more than it saves. Ask for total interest in dollars, before and after.
If a broker or seller suggests moving money in to make your file look stronger, that is mortgage fraud and you are the one who signs the application.
Real costs appear in writing. Cash requested to "hold" an approval buys nothing.
Ask for documents you can actually read, and take everything home. No legitimate offer in this market dies this afternoon.
Everything below is set by New York, and it reads the same in every county in it. The 51 marks above are this county's own doors — who opens one is decided by them, not by the state.
The rules where you are.
New York closings have costs and customs that catch people out.
An attorney is standard on both sides of a New York purchase. This is not optional padding — the contract, the board package and the closing all run through counsel, and your attorney is the person who reads the building's financial statements and minutes for you. Budget for it.
The mortgage recording tax applies when you finance real property, which means a condo or a house. A co-op share loan is not secured by real property, so that tax does not apply — one of the few ways a co-op is cheaper to finance. There is also a transfer tax, and higher-priced purchases carry an additional tax at the state level, so ask your attorney for a full closing-cost estimate early rather than at the end.
Co-op buildings charge maintenance rather than separate taxes and common charges, and maintenance can be raised by the board. Ask your attorney to review the building's reserves, any planned assessments, and the minutes. A cheap apartment in an underfunded building is not cheap.
HDFC and other income-restricted cooperatives carry income limits, resale restrictions and sometimes a flip tax on sale. These are genuine opportunities for working households in this borough and they come with real rules. Read them with a counselor before you fall in love with a listing.
If you rent here, know that New York has substantial tenant protections and that many apartments are rent-regulated. Before you stretch into a purchase you cannot comfortably carry, it is worth confirming with a counselor what your current tenancy is actually worth.
Finally, lenders and loan officers must be licensed, and you can look up a license number before handing over a single document. If someone will not provide theirs, that is your answer.
The short version.
- 01
In New York County, the first question is not how much house you can afford — it is what you are buying. A co-op means a share loan and a board vote. A condo means an ordinary mortgage and no veto. An income-restricted HDFC co-op means lower prices with real rules attached.
- 02
For any of them, start with the two community development credit unions headquartered here, Lower East Side People's and Neighborhood Trust, and with Carver Federal Savings Bank. If you or someone in your household works for the city, the transit system, a university, the entertainment industry or a police association, check your eligibility at the credit union tied to that workplace first — it is usually the most patient money in the borough. Ask any loan officer to check you against the state mortgage agency's and the city's assistance programs before you assume you earn too much.
- 03
Get a HUD-approved counselor to read your contract and your board package. Hire an attorney; in New York that is normal, not a luxury. Build a cushion that survives closing, because the board is looking at it.
- 04
Ask every institution two questions: do you lend to someone with an ITIN, and do you report payments to the credit bureaus. If your credit file is thin, a Mission Asset Fund lending circle is a real first step. Read the total dollars, not the rate. Take every document home.
Same county, another question.
Business FinancingLoans, lines of credit, and capital for small businesses and contractorsSEE IT IN NEW YORK COUNTY →
Personal FinancingPersonal loans, credit building, and ITIN-friendly financing optionsSEE IT IN NEW YORK COUNTY →56NY COUNTIES WITH DOORSThe whole stateEvery county in New York, in this same lane.100 institutions fund homes and repairs inside New York 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.