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. Among the U.S. credit unions, there are three groups that differ in terms of assets, shareholders, and business services. All the members of the credit union, regardless of gender, ethnicity, religious and political beliefs, as well as the size of the monetary share have equal rights. 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. As of the January 1, 2012 the national associations and confederations unite more than 196 million members participating in the 51,013 credit unions in 100 countries. The relationship between credit unions and shareholders arise from the membership and are not customer relationship.
All the members of the credit union, regardless of gender, ethnicity, religious and political beliefs, as well as the size of the monetary share have equal rights. 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. Among the U.S. credit unions, there are three groups that differ in terms of assets, shareholders, and business services.