Founded in 1980, Self-Help is a nonprofit community development financial institution. The mission of Self-Help is to create and protect ownership and economic opportunity for people of color, women, rural residents, and low-wealth families and communities.

Self-Help's work is based on the belief that ownership allows people to improve their economic position. Ownership provides communities with a solid foundation upon which to grow and prosper, and owning an asset, such as a home, can enable a family to send a child to college, start a business, or weather a financial crisis. As a community development financial institution, Self-Help has provided billions of dollars in financing to tens of thousands of homebuyers, small businesses, and nonprofits nationwide.

Since 2004, Self-Help Credit Union has been joining with local credit unions like Scotland Community Credit Union, to provide consumer credit union services and a full range of responsible lending options to residents and businesses of rural and coastal North Carolina. 

Headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, Self-Help operates nine lending offices throughout North Carolina, limited to mortgage and small business lending. These offices are located in Asheville, Charlotte, Durham, Fayetteville, Greensboro, Greenville, Raleigh, Wilmington, and Winston-Salem.  Also, there are branches of Self-Help in Washington, DC and Oakland, California.