Corporate credit unions are united on a cooperative basis in the Central Credit Union (US Central Credit Union). 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. Like the credit cooperatives, credit unions form associations of a higher level, which are called corporate credit unions. Credit unions are competitors of savings institutions, adding interest on deposits of members. This applies to the shares, as well as to additional funds transferred to the account in the credit union. Shareholders in corporate organizations are basic credit unions, besides the same union can be a shareholder of several corporate organizations. Credit unions, like today's credit unions, emerged in the 19th century in Germany as a result of crop failure and famine. 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.