Corporate credit unions are united on a cooperative basis in the Central Credit Union (US Central Credit Union). When organizing the credit union it is important that people know each other and know the extent to which each of them is trustworthy. 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. 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. Until the mid-XX century, credit unions in the United States had little assets that did not exceed, as a rule, 100 thousand dollars Credit unions encourage the proper use of shareholders savings, developing social programs (education, health, recreation, housing, etc.).