To date, credit unions - virtually the only form of financial institution where people can quickly and without any problems get a relatively inexpensive cash loan. Credit unions also differ from the traditional consumer cooperatives. At the organization of the credit union it is important that people know each other and know the extent to which each of them is trustworthy. 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.