Corporate credit unions are united on a cooperative basis in the Central Credit Union (US Central Credit Union). Like the credit cooperatives, credit unions form associations of a higher level, which are called corporate credit unions. Credit union promotes the effective conservation of personal funds of its members, giving them the loans from the funds of the credit union, as well as the sharing of savings in education, housing, health care and other programs of social support and social development of its members. In some cases, the initiators of credit unions can be trade unions, associations such as social support centers and others. In the UK, credit unions are a source of financing of people groups. This tool is not widely used. On the consumer credit market in the U.S. credit unions are on the third place after the commercial banks and finance companies and are ahead of savings institutions, not taking into account the loans on real estate.