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. Principles of cooperative democracy and interaction were adequate to the purposes for which people joined credit unions. To reduce the risk of default on loans members of the credit union shall the joint guarantee. 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. 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. In the UK, credit unions are a source of financing of people groups. This tool is not widely used. 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. Corporate alliances are intermediaries between credit unions and financial markets.