Like any financial institution, credit unions have the financial resources. 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. In the UK, credit unions are a source of financing of people groups. This tool is not widely used. Credit unions are financial institutions, financial cooperatives of citizens, and in this capacity they are above all associations of people, not unification of capitals, which is typical, for example, for public companies. 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. Credit union as a consumer cooperative operates on the principles of equality of all its members.