By Ken Lowy, Director of Sales & Strategic Alliances, NewtekOne
A business owner comes to a credit union with a real need: a building to purchase, equipment to replace, a business to acquire, a partner to buy out, inventory to finance, working capital to stabilize operations, or a growth opportunity that cannot wait.
The business-owner member trusts the credit union. The relationship is long-standing. Deposits are already there. The owner knows the branch team, the lender, the leadership, or members of the board. The credit union wants to help, and the opportunity is real: serve the business owner, retain and grow deposits, and add a quality earning asset to the balance sheet.
But the loan does not always fit neatly into the credit union’s current process. The amount is larger. The structure requires deeper business underwriting. The collateral package is more complex. Documentation and servicing require additional support. The credit union wants the asset, but not the added headcount, software licenses, fixed overhead, or internal infrastructure required to build a larger commercial lending platform.
That is where the NewtekOne Lender Service Provider model can help.
NewtekOne has been a CUNA Strategic Services alliance provider for over 20 years. Through the NewtekOne LSP model, credit unions can use Newtek’s software, lending platform, processing support, underwriting support, documentation support, servicing, and execution capacity to scale business lending without building the entire infrastructure internally. The model is designed to help credit unions reduce staffing burden, reduce licensing costs, move to a lower-cost structure, and keep the business-owner relationship at the credit union.
That matters because when a credit union cannot help a business owner fast enough, other providers are ready and able to step in. The business-owner member is at risk. Deposits are at risk. And the quality asset the credit union wanted can end up sitting on a competitor’s balance sheet, strengthening someone else’s relationship instead of the credit union’s.
The NewtekOne LSP model gives credit unions flexibility. If the credit union wants the asset, Newtek can help the credit union make the loan and support the process so the credit union can hold the loan on its balance sheet. If the credit union does not want the asset, Newtek can take the loan and service it as well. In either case, the business owner has a path forward, and the credit union stays connected to the relationship.
That flexibility also gives both the borrower and the credit union a second look. NewtekOne offers many different business loan options, including revolving lines of credit, giving credit unions more ways to support business-owner members when a request does not fit neatly into one box.
That flexibility is especially valuable in a market where credit unions are competing for both quality assets and deposits. A business owner who borrows from an institution has broader financial needs: operating accounts, payroll activity, merchant services, insurance, treasury activity, cash balances, vendor payments, receivables, and future borrowing needs.
NewtekOne gives credit unions a more flexible way to scale business lending with a well-capitalized partner that can support execution, technology, processing, servicing, and lending capacity behind the scenes.
This is not outsourcing. It is a flexible way to scale business lending.
Credit unions already have solved the hardest part: the trust of their business-owner members. They have the local connection, the service orientation, the relationship, and the desire to help. What they need is a practical way to add commercial lending infrastructure, support, servicing, and execution capacity without building it all themselves.
Newtek helps close that gap.
When a business owner needs capital, the loan is only part of the story. The real opportunity is the relationship that comes with it.
Connect with NewtekOne to learn more.
