To get a loan in the credit union a shareholder must be not only a formally adopted there, but necessary pay in cash contributions, the amount and order of payment of which approved by the General Assembly and fixed by the charter. Today in the UK there are about 700 credit unions with assets exceeding 200 million pounds. Main share of credit unions assets is concentrated in loans (about 50%), while the share of consumer loans in commercial banks and finance companies active operations rarely exceeds 15%. The most common type of loans in credit unions are loans to purchase new and used cars (40%), followed by first mortgages and second mortgages (35%), about 10% are unsecured personal loans to member of unions and about 15% - are loans on credit cards and other loans. Credit unions attract people in the first place by the opportunity to get cash loan (credit) - quickly and relatively inexpensively. Among the U.S. credit unions, there are three groups that differ in terms of assets, shareholders, and business services. The main advantage of credit unions consists in transparency, controllability, governance for shareholders. 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. Credit unions encourage the proper use of shareholders savings, developing social programs (education, health, recreation, housing, etc.). On the consumer credit market in the U.S. credit unions are on the third place after the commercial banks and finance companies and are ahead of savings institutions, not taking into account the loans on real estate.