The $3.5 million Chicanos Por La Causa Federal Credit Union of Phoenix has become the latest victim of the Arizona economy, formally merged this month into its Latino rival, the $27 million MariSol FCU.

"Conditions could not have been much worse for a credit union whose members are involved in real estate construction and related fields," said Robin Romano, president/CEO of MariSol and who since last July has been serving as interim manager for the struggling Chicanos Por La Causa.

The CU was founded by a Phoenix-based Latino nonprofit group and is a member of the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions.

It lost $1.75 million over the past four quarters and wrote off 18.4% of its loans in the first quarter, which the Arizona Republic noted is "the highest rate for any Arizona credit union."

Chicanos has operated one branch with five employees.

No decision has been made on retaining the branch. The resulting entity will have four branches, 24 employees, 8,400 members and $30 million in assets.