CHATSWORTH, Calif. – The U.S. economy may be going through a soft spell, but don't tell that to the 50 credit union partners who participate in Telesis Partnership Inc.'s (TPI) commercial real estate, business loan and participation lending services. TPI, a wholly-owned CUSO of Telesis Community Credit Union, funded more than $48 million in member business loans in the third quarter of 2001, establishing a quarterly record for the CUSO. TPI has underwritten over $200 million in member business loans year-to-date and recently surpassed a milestone by signing on its 50th credit union partner. Jean Faenza, president of TPI and executive vice president of Telesis Community CU said she hasn't seen any evidence of the current economic recession in the interest level among the CUSO's partners for participation loans, in fact the contrary is true. "We can't get enough loans into the pipeline, we have so much demand at this time. With commercial real estate rates being so much higher now than they are on the residential side, our credit union partners are more interested in these types of loans." Faenza said some of the TPI's credit union partners have inquired about rate modifications on loans they participated in previously, but they've been the exception. Faenza attributes that partly to the repeat business and longterm relationships TPI has with many of its partners. Before it became a CUSO, Telesis Partnerships Inc. was operated as a business arm of TCCU for more than 10 years. She also cites TPI's turnkey approach to its lending services and standardized documents as factors influencing the CUSO's success. TPI originates, processes and underwrites the loans, as well as providing servicing and asset management of loan portfolios. TPI has also begun underwriting and servicing auto loans for one of its credit union partners. Faenza said credit unions that either don't have the expertise or resources or don't want to expend whatever lending resources they have, would be the types to consider partnering with the CUSO for this service.. Credit unions involved with participation lending retain from 10 to 90% of each loan and decide whether to service the loan or outsource to another partner. [email protected]