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The Small Business Administration offers a host of benefits to credit unions, including new streams of income, new products to generate new members and additional services to retain current members, SBA Office of Financial Assistance Director Linda Rusche told attendees of a free NAFCU webcast Wednesday.

She said credit unions offering SBA-backed loans products reap a number of benefits, including increased interest and servicing income, cross-selling opportunities and more.

Rusche asked a few questions about what would grow credit unions' approval of SBA's loan programs. Respondents replied by selecting "training" (44 percent), "less reporting and/or documentation" (33 percent), and "more confidence in the guaranty purchase" (22 percent). She also explained how credit unions can seek to partner with SBA and whom to contact for answers to their questions.

In addition, Rusche discussed what kind of staffing is needed to support SBA lending, detailed SBA's validated credit scoring methodology and streamlined approval authorities and explained how SBA-backed loans can help grow lending to start-up and underserved businesses.

NAFCU and SBA are working together to help get more credit unions to increase their lending to member-small businesses through SBA micro loan programs. Each SBA-guaranteed loan dollar from a credit union is excluded from the credit union's member business loan limit; this allows the credit union to make the most of its MBL authority.

According to a survey for NAFCU's May Economic & CU Monitor, total credit union loans through SBA grew 16 percent in 2014. Almost 24 percent of respondents were SBA preferred lenders; 80 percent said they offer 7(a) loans. Of all SBA loans originated by survey respondents in 2014, 36 percent were under $50,000.