He noted several ingredients that have benefited Michigan Catholic in business lending.

"We didn't have any junk on the books. The multistate banks have really tightened their standards. A number of the community banks are in trouble, too. Word-of-mouth says they're throwing stuff out the window that isn't all bad. So we can pick up on that," Schram said.

"The vast majority of my business is from existing members. They're tired of walking into Chase or whatever and the bank doesn't know who they are. Credit unions are hands-on. It's nice to know that if I bring in some business it's going to be handled OK. The service at credit unions compared to banks is like night and day. Banks spend millions of dollars a year trying to achieve the level of service that's standard in a credit union."

Schram also believes the fact Michigan Catholic is not an employer-based credit union helps. Not many employees of a telephone company, for example, run a business. But church membership covers a wide range of people, including independent business owners. Michigan Catholic has introduced a parish account to take advantage of the fact that what Schram calls "the big box banks" have sharply increased fees for such accounts.

Schram was hired almost three years ago by Michigan Catholic. The credit union had already written some business loans, and was one of nine founding partners of Commercial Alliance, a business lending CUSO.

"Basically, they found out they needed somebody on staff who was familiar with the business lending world," Schram said.

He had worked for Manufacturers Bank and Comerica Bank for 30 years, primarily in sales development, and also worked developing new business for a brokerage. He has an accounting degree, which he believes helps him talk knowledgeably to business owners.

"What I do now is work with branch managers and our lending staff," Schram explained. "If they have any question about a business or commercial loan, it gets referred to me and I follow through."

As a general rule, Michigan Catholic doesn't pursue loans of $3 million or more because in that category, Schram said, "The banks are more than competitive." Instead, the credit union writes a lot of loans on commercial buildings worth perhaps $500,000 to $1 million.

Michigan Catholic keeps business loans under $200,000 in-house, which give the credit union a bigger margin. Commercial Alliance participates in larger loans, with the credit union retaining 40% and shopping out the remainder.

For business checking accounts, the credit union offers three tiers: the essential, with no minimum daily balance requirement and no monthly maintenance fee; the advantage, with a $7,500 daily balance minimum and $15 a month maintenance fee; and the enterprise, requiring a $15,000 monthly minimum balance and $30 a month for maintenance.

Offsetting those charges, the number of free items each month rises with each tier. There's a wide range of other business products and services, from bill payment to night depository bags and business credit and debit cards.

"Credit unions are either full-fledged into business lending or they want no part of it," Schram observed. Part of it is the need to bring experienced people on board, he agreed. In addition, "There's the issue of whether upper management will make a real commitment to it, and there's the question of the credit union's cash position. We're in a pretty strong cash position, but not all credit unions are that way."

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