Like any financial institution, credit unions have the financial resources. Most modern credit unions represent specialized consumer cooperatives of citizens associated by the principle of social community: place of work, place of residence, profession, or any other shared interest. 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. " First Credit Union was savings unprofitable institution, or rather credit cooperative, providing services to its members. Credit union services are available only to its shareholders. Cooperation between credit unions, how they would not have been named, took place always, from the moment when the movement moved outside one credit union. The main advantage of credit unions consists in transparency, controllability, governance for shareholders. 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. Standards by which credit unions build their work do not coincide with the standards and regulations of consumer cooperation of the usual type. A potential new member of a credit union must submit a recommendation of shareholders in which the referee becomes a warrant of a future member of the credit union.