National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) - an independent federal agency, based in Washington (State of Columbia), established by the U.S. Congress to oversee the federal credit union system. Credit unions encourage savings of citizens, setting compensation payments (interest) on savings and provide from these savings loans to their members. Credit unions also differ from the traditional consumer cooperatives. Members of credit unions place in credit unions usually free fund balances, ie those that remain after expenses devoted to education of children, the acquisition of new properties, additional pension benefits, etc. Since the early 80's started the process of consolidation of credit unions, leading to a decrease in their number with a simultaneous increase in the total number of members. Over 30% of the assets of credit unions are investments in government securities, certificates of deposit of banks and savings loan associations, as well as in the parent credit unions, and other risk-free investments. Important specifics of creating a credit union - an initiative order of organization: people do not receive any instructions, orders or regulations, the unification into a credit union occurs by their will and decision. 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. Corporate alliances are intermediaries between credit unions and financial markets.