In recent decades, many credit unions began to resort to such form of service as The economic basis of credit unions - finances of a household. The main objective of the credit union - to ensure financial stability of a household, to ensure the priority of their shareholders' financial interests. 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). 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. 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. Credit unions appeared in England in the 19th century. In 1844 a group of workers from Rochdale established the first cooperative. Important specifics of creating a credit union - an initiative order of organization: people do not receive any instructions, orders or regulations, the unification into a credit union occurs by their will and decision. Today, the World Council of Credit Unions is represented as members four regional confederations and twelve national associations.