Opportunities Credit Union of Winooski is merging with the South Burlington-based Green Mountain Credit Union to create a new entity that will eventually expand non-traditional lending to customers in central Vermont and Rutland. The combined institution will use Green Mountain Credit Union's name. If it’s approved by state and federal regulators, the merger will close in the spring. No jobs are expected to be lost in the merger, according to Bob Lake, CEO of Green Mountain Credit Union, which was founded in 1959. The combined organization would have about $165 million in assets and would serve more than 10,000 members, the two credit unions said in a prepared statement. Opportunities, with branches in Winooski and Burlington, is a Community Development Financial Institution, or CDFI. It's eligible for federal funding to provide low-interest loans in underserved communities, as well as financial education and business coaching. [content-1] The merger will enable Opportunities to offer credit cards, something it has never done before, and will create cost savings for both institutions through economies of scale, Lake said in an interview on Monday. The new, larger credit union would be able to expand Opportunities' mission to Berlin and Rutland, where Green Mountain has branches, Lake added. Opportunities, which opened in 1989, is one of a half-dozen CDFIs in Vermont, according to Kate Laud, its former president and CEO. She’s now working as a consultant to the two institutions. The small Winooski credit union has two financial counselors on staff and looks for ways to help customers who can’t get credit from another bank, or even open an account there. “We work with people for sometimes up to a year to get their first credit rating or repair a low credit rating,” she said. Opportunities offers loans of as little as $2,000, sometimes unsecured, and lends money for used vehicles that other banks might refuse to cover, Laud said. Lake said the new entity will apply for permission to expand those offerings. “Our boards want everyone to have the opportunity to go to work, pay their bills, or have a credit card,” Lake said. “Or if people want to start the next Fortune 500 company, we want everybody to have that opportunity.” [content-2] Bank and credit union mergers have been common over the last several years. The National Credit Union Administration, a federal agency, approved 49 mergers around the U.S. during the third quarter…