A member-owned cooperative lender. It lends to the people and businesses inside its field of membership and files a call report with NCUA every quarter.
Federal law describes a federal credit union as a cooperative association organized to promote thrift among its members and to create a source of credit for provident or productive purposes. The members own it. There are no outside shareholders.
Three things follow for a business borrower. First, you must be a member before the loan is made, and membership depends on the credit union’s field of membership: a shared employer or association, or a place. Second, the size of loan a credit union can make is tied to its net worth. Commercial loans to one borrower or group of associated borrowers stop at the greater of 15 percent of net worth or $100,000, with more room when the excess is fully secured by readily marketable collateral. Third, member business loans in total are capped at 1.75 times net worth unless the credit union is exempt.
When a request is larger than its limit, a credit union can keep part of the loan and sell the rest to other lenders as participations. State-chartered credit unions also answer to a state supervisor.
How it shows up in the data here
The credit union filter lists credit unions from the NCUA 5300 call report data for June 2026: commercial loans made in the first half of 2026 (granted or purchased), loans outstanding by category, net worth and a main phone number. Credit union business lenders groups them by state.
Go further
- Search credit unions: Every credit union row, with filters.
- Credit union business lenders: Credit unions that made commercial loans, by state.
- Credit union commercial loans made: Ranked by commercial loans granted or purchased in the first half of 2026.
- How to place a business loan with a credit union: Credit unions make business loans, and some make a lot of them. Three things are different from a bank: the borrower must be a member, most credit unions work under a cap on business loans, and the limit to one borrower is set against net worth.
- A credit union lender's guide to working with brokers: Brokers bring loans a credit union would not otherwise see. Taking them well means four checks before credit: can the borrower join, is there room under the cap, is the loan inside the limit to one borrower, and who pays the broker.
- What to do after a bank says no to a business loan: One bank's no is one lender's answer, and the reasons are yours to ask for. They usually point to a constraint you can name.
Related terms
- Field of membership: The set of people and organizations a credit union's charter lets it serve. A borrower has to fall inside it and join before the credit union can lend.
- Member business loan (MBL): A credit union's business-purpose loan to one of its own members. The total of these loans is capped by federal law; loans to non-members are counted separately.
- Member business loan cap: The legal ceiling on a credit union's member business loans: 1.75 times its net worth, or 1.75 times the net worth a well capitalized credit union must hold, if that is less.
- Credit union single borrower limit: The most a credit union may lend in commercial loans to one borrower or group of associated borrowers: the greater of 15 percent of its net worth or $100,000.
- NCUA 5300 call report: The financial report every natural person credit union files with NCUA each quarter. It is the public source for what a credit union lends and holds.
- Community bank: A community bank is a smaller bank that takes deposits and lends mostly in the area around its offices, and decides on loans close to home.
Sources
- 12 U.S.C. 1752, Definitions, retrieved .
- 12 U.S.C. 1759, Membership, retrieved .
- 12 CFR 723.8, Aggregate member business loan limit; exclusions and exceptions, retrieved .
- 12 CFR 723.4, Commercial loan policy (aggregate dollar amount to one borrower), retrieved .
Plain definitions for orientation, not legal, tax or credit advice. A lender's own policy decides what it will do.