The first credit union in the United States was founded in 1909. by the group of Franco-American Catholics in Manchester, New Hampshire, and was called "Cooperative Credit Association of St. Mary. " Activity of the credit union consists of organizing mutual financial assistance by meeting the needs of its members in the services of saving and obtaining loans. Income derived from the provision of services to its members, does not become the profit of credit union and is distributed among its members in proportion to their savings. The relationship between credit unions and shareholders arise from the membership and are not customer relationship. Shareholders in corporate organizations are basic credit unions, besides the same union can be a shareholder of several corporate organizations. In the UK, credit unions are a source of financing of people groups. This tool is not widely used. 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.