Membership in the credit union is voluntary and is open to all citizens bound by with joint work or residence, who wished to create a credit union to use its services and are willing to take on relevant commitments and responsibilities. Like any financial institution, credit unions have the financial resources. Credit unions attract people in the first place by the opportunity to get cash loan (credit) - quickly and relatively inexpensively. Like the credit cooperatives, credit unions form associations of a higher level, which are called corporate credit unions. As of the January 1, 2012 the national associations and confederations unite more than 196 million members participating in the 51,013 credit unions in 100 countries. In some cases, the initiators of credit unions can be trade unions, associations such as social support centers and others.