Typically new members of the credit union become citizens having suretyship or recommendations from their friends - members of the credit union. First central bank of credit unions appeared in 1876. Credit unions began to appear rapidly in many European countries. Cooperation between credit unions, how they would not have been named, took place always, from the moment when the movement moved outside one credit union. 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. The value of credit unions is not limited to the role of the economic agent - they are an important element of the social structure and a factor of social stability and progress. Credit unions, like today's credit unions, emerged in the 19th century in Germany as a result of crop failure and famine.