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. Today in the UK there are about 700 credit unions with assets exceeding 200 million pounds. Income received by the credit union shall be distributed among the shareholders or spent for the depreciation of services, that is, are the most effective means of meeting the needs of shareholders. Members of credit unions place in credit unions usually free fund balances, ie those that remain after expenses devoted to education of children, the acquisition of new properties, additional pension benefits, etc. Until the 70's there was a proliferation of the U.S. credit unions due to the increase of their number and the number of shareholders, although it must be acknowledged that there was also and a qualitative growth. Credit unions are competitors of savings institutions, adding interest on deposits of members. This applies to the shares, as well as to additional funds transferred to the account in the credit union. The relationship between credit unions and shareholders arise from the membership and are not customer relationship. Credit cooperatives and credit unions exist in many different forms. The main differences relate to the nature of the membership and the opening of a credit institution. A credit union on its own initiative order is created by citizens (individuals) to solve their financial problems that they could not solve in other financial institutions. Worldwide credit union movement is represented by regional confederations and national organizations within the World Council of Credit Unions.