MADISON, Wis.-CUNA and CU Business Partners have entered a marketing agreement to provide credit unions with an easier, less costly avenue of getting started in member business lending. “This program offers our member credit unions the potential to strengthen their portfolios while helping their members achieve their business dreams,” CUNA Vice President of Strategic Alliances Wes Millar said. “And importantly, this program accomplishes these ends without driving up costs to credit unions.” The service will alleviate some of the pressures associated with in loan origination, participation, underwriting, servicing and quality control in small business loans, commercial real estate lending, and loan participations. It will permit credit unions to diversify loan assets while skipping the upfront expenses, staff time and resources. Jean Faenza, president of Business Partners stated, “With CUNA providing the training and Business Partners handling the costly infrastructure, credit unions will have more time available to build the relationship with the business member.” CU Business Partners, originally established as Telesis Partnership by Telesis Community Credit Union, has close to 10 years of experience and expertise to rapidly provide loan applications, process all the borrower data, underwrite the credit to ensure integrity, prepare loan documents and manage the loan closing. Business Partners services a loan for its life through billing and payment processing, loan compliance, collection, continuous communication, and an annual loan review.