ELGIN, Ill. and MIRAMAR, Fla. — It's been nearly a year since CU Business Capital and Lending Solutions, Inc. partnered to bring business loans and lease equipment application processing to credit unions over the phone.
During that time, CUBC has added 11 credit unions as equity partners and four as subscribers, according to Murray Halperin, CUBC vice president of sales and marketing. Another eight are in "contract phase."
The partnership launched last November provided members the ability to pick up the phone to submit a loan or lease application for commercial vehicles, equipment, commercial mortgages, Small Business Administration loans, working capital loans and lines of credit. Halperin said he is not at liberty to discuss the total dollar amount in loans and other services that have been processed via the call center.
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"Now that we've got a year under our belt, we're looking to solidify what we've been doing and expand dramatically," Halperin said.
The next phase of the alliance will be processing business deposits, e-banking, merchant account services and payment solutions via the call center, a project expected to be rolled out over the next five months, Halperin said.
Another effort underway is an outbound telemarketing program that essentially introduces small business owners in the area to what the credit union has to offer. Credit unions can tailor which businesses they want to target based on factors like employee size or Beacon scores. Lending Solutions, which works with more than 350 credit unions, will compile that list and contact businesses that fit criteria set by the CUBC credit union client. Beta testing on the project is scheduled for November at Eastern Financial Florida Credit Union, said Jeff Frantz, vice president, corporate development at Lending Solutions. After that, it will be rolled out to other credit unions.
Frantz said it is common knowledge that mid- to small-size businesses with loan requests under $2 million generally are not entertained by most commercial banks. Credit unions cannot only have this niche cornered, but it can open up the window to expand into larger loans, he added.
"Banks and credit unions are striving for deposit relationships," Frantz said. "A huge item that credit unions are focusing on is how to grow membership. Business services coupled with loans allow [them] to dig a lot deeper." –[email protected]
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