Membership in the credit union is voluntary and is open to all citizens bound by with joint work or residence, who wished to create a credit union to use its services and are willing to take on relevant commitments and responsibilities. In the U.S., credit unions have a clear organizational structure. All credit unions belong to one or the other parent credit union (there are 35 of them in the U.S.). Typically, donor contributions to the credit unions are targeted and used in the same statutory requirements and restrictions as the Mutual Financial Aid fund as a whole. Credit unions perform the function of social protection in a vital for people sphere of financial services. They care about improving the financial literacy of the population, are working on the formation of their members and their employees. 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. 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. In the UK, credit unions are a source of financing of people groups. This tool is not widely used. 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.
Typically, donor contributions to the credit unions are targeted and used in the same statutory requirements and restrictions as the Mutual Financial Aid fund as a whole. Credit unions perform the function of social protection in a vital for people sphere of financial services. They care about improving the financial literacy of the population, are working on the formation of their members and their employees. In the U.S., credit unions have a clear organizational structure. All credit unions belong to one or the other parent credit union (there are 35 of them in the U.S.).