A closer look at the data further reveals the CDFI Fund's ability to report impacts to Congress will dwindle without credit unions, which contribute more than all CDFIs combined:

Credit unions provided 92% of all loan dollars that went to the CDFI Fund's qualifying Low-Income Targeted Populations (consumers), according to the report.
Credit unions provided 93% of all consumer loans reported to the CDFI Fund in 2021.
Credit unions also provided the largest number of home improvement and purchase and residential real estate loans, at a rate four times that of banks and nearly eight times that of loan funds.
Credit union loans all had lower interest rates than every other CDFI type for business/microbusiness, commercial real estate, home improvement/purchase and residential real estate. Interest rate data are not collected for consumer loans.
Credit union loan terms were longer, making the loans more accessible than every other CDFI type.
Across all categories of distressed borrowers, credit unions made $13.8 billion in loans – more than all other CDFI types combined.
And significantly, given that congressional appropriations carved out funds specifically devoted to lending in Persistent Poverty Counties, credit unions provided five times more loans in Persistent Poverty Counties than loan fund CDFIs.

Credit unions are clearly showing the most significant return on grant funds, in terms of fulfilling the CDFI Fund's mission of providing access to affordable financial products and services. And yet, credit unions are not just a minority in the numbers of CDFIs receiving grant funding, they receive relatively smaller awards. Looking at the CDFI Program Awards granted in 2021, credit unions made up 27% of all award recipients yet only received 20% of funds.

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