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). In the credit union compensation for use of the loan (interest) is a source of compensation for savings. Historically, credit unions have grown from the experience of credit cooperatives, but they took the experience of organizations of mutual aid of citizens by moving methods of social self-protection from labor and toward consumption. The right to use the services of the credit union have only its members. 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. Credit union as a consumer cooperative operates on the principles of equality of all its members.