Borrowing rate for the credit union is a source of income to cover the administrative costs. All excess funds are returned to members in the form of dividends on savings. Some credit unions are closed, serving only their members. However, the more and more popularitywin cooperatives of open type. 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. Credit unions appeared in England in the 19th century. In 1844 a group of workers from Rochdale established the first cooperative. The specifics of credit unions and, in some sense, their uniqueness lies in the fact that they work not for profit and do not appropriate profit.