AUSTIN, Texas – Stanford FCU is continuing is reputation as being a pioneer in e-commerce. The $680-million, Palo Alto, Calif. credit union has offered online services to its members since 1993. Now it has selected Teres Solutions' Software Application for Integrated Lending (SAIL) solution to manage and automate its direct and indirect lending programs. SFCU said its consumer loan volume has tripled in the past year, largely due to an increase in indirect loan applications – in 2005 the credit union funded 2,300 indirect loans totaling $47.5 million. The CU projects it will secure $120 million in indirect loans in 2006. With so many loan applications coming in to the credit union, vice president of operations Keith Troup decided SFCU needed a lending system that could accept all its loan applications electronically and help automate the approval processes. He said the credit union opted for SAIL software because of its integration with the DealerTrack network and SFCU's Web site, making it possible for the credit union to electronically receive and respond to all loan applications and handle the larger volume without having to increase its internal staff. In addition to the growing volume of indirect loan applications, direct loans are also popular among SFCU's more than 40,000 members – more than 85% of SFCU's members who apply for an auto loan directly with the credit union do so online. SAIL's automated loan application ensures they'll get near instant answers to their online direct loan application, Teres said.