Typically new members of the credit union become citizens having suretyship or recommendations from their friends - members of the credit union. To reduce the risk of default on loans members of the credit union shall the joint guarantee. Credit unions appeared in England in the 19th century. In 1844 a group of workers from Rochdale established the first cooperative. 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 are financial institutions, financial cooperatives of citizens, and in this capacity they are above all associations of people, not unification of capitals, which is typical, for example, for public companies. Credit union as a consumer cooperative operates on the principles of equality of all its members.