Credit unions may have another competitor on the commercial loan front as online retail giantAmazon.com Inc. starts to make high-stake moves within the businesslending space.

The Seattle-based company said it rolled out its Amazon Lendingprogram through Amazon Capital Services Inc.at the end of 2011 toserve sellers of all sizes, the Wall Street Journal recently reported.

According to merchants involved with the program, the loansrange from $1,000 to $38,000 and have interest rates between 1% to13.9%, the publication reported. The company is also apparentlyoffering small business credit card interest rates that range from13% to 19%.

Amazon has not responded to several requests for comment fromCredit Union Times.

An Amazon spokesman told the Wall Street Journal thatits goal is to solve a difficult problem for sellers – helping themto obtain more cash more quickly than they might from a bank orother traditional lender.

While it has been reported that Amazon's lending program istargeted at high-volume merchants, the company's spokesman told theWall Street Journal that one of its goal is to servesellers of all sizes. Third-party sellers located outside of theU.S. may be another consideration, he added.

Biz2Credit Co-Founder and CEO Rohit Arora said Amazon isventuring into territory where their own merchants are finding itharder to get financing from banks.

Biz2Credit in New York links small businesses with financialinstitutions that are in need of financing.

Meanwhile, with online-based businesses being thefastest-growing sector receiving loans these days, credit unionsand micro lenders would likely be more willing to provide loans tothe sector than banks would, Arora said.