CO-OP Financial Services' credit union clients are now able to access housing finance services through LenderLive, a privately held housing finance firm based in Glendale, Colo.

CO-OP on Tuesday announced a partnership with LenderLive, which has over 400 primarily bank clients.  The new service will be called CO-OP Mortgage Solutions.

“Mortgage lending is a cornerstone product for credit unions, yet building the in-house capacity to support mortgage portfolios and keeping up with complex regulatory mandates can be difficult for many institutions,” said Stan Hollen, CEO of CO-OP Financial Services.

“CO-OP Mortgage Solutions brings technology, expertise and availability to credit unions needing a comprehensive and cost-effective mortgage offering to grow and retain membership,” Hollen said.

CO-OP made the partnership through its CO-OP Member Center, the Fort Worth, Texas, call center service that already supports a number of different types of credit union consumer lending, according to Mark Chatfield, CO-OP Member Center chief operating officer.

 “We used to be more active in the mortgage space on our own, but with all the changes that have come down in the last 36 months we gradually moved out of it,” Chatfield explained. The partnership with LenderLive will allow credit unions access to services tailored to meet all of their housing finance needs, Chatfield added. 

Credit unions interested in completely outsourcing a housing finance program will be able to do that, while credit unions which want help originating loans, underwriting them, closing them or selling and servicing them will be able to get help with each of those areas, Chatfield said.

He declined to estimate what the new service might cost, emphasizing that each credit union's circumstances and services would differ.