Historically, credit unions were preceded by widespread development of credit cooperation in many countries of Europe and America. National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) - an independent federal agency, based in Washington (State of Columbia), established by the U.S. Congress to oversee the federal credit union system. Like any financial institution, credit unions have the financial resources. Specialization of credit unions to provide financial services to its shareholders requires a particularly strict regulation of membership and acceptable activities. The main advantage of credit unions consists in transparency, controllability, governance for shareholders. National Credit Union Insurance Fund was created by Congress in 1970 to insure deposits of credit union members in the amount of 100 thousand dollars. 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. Important specifics of creating a credit union - an initiative order of organization: people do not receive any instructions, orders or regulations, the unification into a credit union occurs by their will and decision. To increase the number of credit unions in 1979 was adopted the corresponding law that serves as the legal basis of their activity.