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 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. Is necessary that all shareholders of the credit union were members of a single community, would know each other well enough to enjoy mutual trust. Credit unions of the open type are still controlled by their members, but at the same time provide services to people who are not its members (external customers). The main activities of credit unions, aimed at the organization of mutual aid and social support of citizens is not intended to profit. U.S. credit unions have another significant difference from the credit cooperatives of farmers: the first have major proportion of short-term loans, the second - long and mostly in real estate.