Frequently Asked Questions

About CFC

CFC provides credit and industry-leading financial products to America’s 900-plus local, not-for-profit, consumer-owned electric cooperatives and rural utility systems.

Yes. CFC is a member-owned, nonprofit association that is exempt from federal taxes pursuant to section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code.

CFC provides a range of services including financing for infrastructure such as distribution lines and power plants, emergency lines of credit so power can be restored quickly after a disaster, loan syndications and loan resale, strategic planning and financial analysis, financial education and training, and much more.

Many cooperatives borrow money for infrastructure projects from the government through the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), an arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. However, access to federal funding can require additional time and requirements, which may be difficult to meet. CFC was formed to supplement the loan programs of RUS.

About Cooperatives

A cooperative is a voluntary, contractual organization of people having a mutual ownership interest in providing themselves a service on a not-for-profit basis. Most commonly, consumers join together to purchase something that otherwise is not cost-effectively available to them. CFC is a cooperative and its members are primarily other cooperatives.

Cooperative businesses are unique because they are owned by the members they serve (as opposed to shareholders) and because they are guided by a set of seven principles that reflect the best interests of those consumers.

In 1929 only 9.5 percent of farms in America had access to central station electric service because the costs to run electricity to more remote areas was prohibitive and unprofitable. So, in 1935 President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) to provide funding for farm communities to establish electric cooperatives.