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.
Federal law limits a federal credit union’s membership to one of three categories. A single common-bond credit union serves one group that shares a bond of occupation or association. A multiple common-bond credit union serves more than one such group. A community credit union serves the persons and organizations within a well-defined local community, neighborhood or rural district.
NCUA’s detailed policy sits in its Chartering and Field of Membership Manual, which is published as an appendix to the agency’s rules. State-chartered credit unions get their fields from state law, and those can be drawn differently.
For a business loan the first question is whether the business or its owner can join. With a community charter that usually turns on where the business is located. With an occupational or associational charter it turns on employer or membership. Membership comes before the loan, so settle it on the first call, before sending a package.
The field also matters in a participation. Under NCUA’s rule the borrower must become a member of one of the participating credit unions before another credit union buys a share of the loan.
How it shows up in the data here
This site does not carry field of membership; the 5300 files used here do not describe who may join. Credit union business lenders lists credit unions by the state of their main office, which is a starting point, not proof of eligibility. Ask the credit union; each lender page links to its NCUA profile.
Go further
- Credit union business lenders: Credit unions that made commercial loans, by state.
- Search credit unions: Every credit union row, with filters.
- 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.
Related terms
- Common bond: The tie that members of a credit union share. Federal law names two kinds, occupation and association; a community charter is defined by place instead.
- Credit union: 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.
- 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.
- NCUA charter number: The number NCUA uses to identify a credit union in its records and call report files. It is the surest way to tell apart credit unions with similar names.
- Loan participation: A loan in which other lenders buy shares from the lender that made it, under a written agreement that keeps the first lender in the loan for its whole life.
Sources
Plain definitions for orientation, not legal, tax or credit advice. A lender's own policy decides what it will do.