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Maria Cearns, chief operating officer for the Cooperative Bank, said the lender signed up to 159 three years ago "because it provides a really quick and easy way for customers to contact us and to help us as soon as they see something that is suspicious."

When in need of quick cash for a sudden emergency, residents can turn to the center’s cooperative bank, which offers microloans at low interest rates.

“They come here because their families were destroyed, they lost their business or they became homeless on the streets,” said Kim, who runs the cooperative bank.

I caught one of two afternoon performances on Tuesday in Crystal City, where the truck had pulled into the cul-de-sac behind the Courtyard Green, employing the plaza of the National Cooperative Bank building as an ersatz amphitheater.

Ms Parab pawned six pieces of gold jewellery for a gold loan from a local cooperative bank for $3,340.