Members will no longer step down into a small basement office to make deposits or apply for loans.

The financial cooperative is on its way to constructing a new, full-service branch at street level, made possible by a $2 million collaborative loan between National Cooperative Bank (NCB) and the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions through their Secondary Capital II loan program.

The Secondary Capital II is an amortizing subordinated loan that can be counted toward a credit union’s net worth and can be leverage by growing community development credit unions to expand safe and affordable lending in low-income communities.

Formed in 1966, USALLIANCE serves 90,000 members across the country, including 5,800 in the Bronx.

The Federation is a nonprofit association representing more than 200 low-income and community-development credit unions nationwide with a mission of helping members achieve financial independence through credit unions.

“The Federation is excited to have invested its first $2 million secondary capital loan together with NCB in $1.2 billion USALLIANCE FCU,” says Federation Chief Financial Officer/Chief Investment Officer Eben Sheaffer. “The Bronx has too few safe, affordable lenders and too many check cashers and pawnshops. In the Bronx, one bank serves every 20,000 residents, compared to its neighbor to the south, Manhattan, where there is a bank for every 3,000 residents.”

The new branch will allow USALLIANCE to build long-term presence in the Bronx. It’s expected to draw in an estimated 500 new members each year and provide much-needed employment in the area, including more lending personnel and temporary construction jobs. Among the products and services made possible by the NCB-Federation financing is Q-Cash, which gives USALLIANCE members totally automated access to small loans. The financing also will help USALLIANCE fund first-time homebuyer mortgages.

“This is a good example of how membership organizations cooperate to leverage funding to strengthen their communities,” Ann Fedorchak, NCB’s director of Cooperative and Community Development. “Working together, we provided a loan that allows USALLIANCE to offer more to its members. That creates greater impact in helping low- to moderate-income communities remain independent and sustainable.”