Principles of cooperative democracy and interaction were adequate to the purposes for which people joined credit unions. 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. The main activities of credit unions, aimed at the organization of mutual aid and social support of citizens is not intended to profit. 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. Credit unions historically formed as a special form of social support, initially taken upon themselves the social mission of protecting the interests of citizens in the field of financial services. Income received by the credit union shall be distributed among the shareholders or spent for the depreciation of services, that is, are the most effective means of meeting the needs of shareholders. Share contributions are transferred to the credit union on the basis of membership for the whole stay of a shareholder as member of the credit union and are the basis of membership. Important specifics of creating a credit union - an initiative order of organization: people do not receive any instructions, orders or regulations, the unification into a credit union occurs by their will and decision. Cooperation between credit unions, how they would not have been named, took place always, from the moment when the movement moved outside one credit union. Corporate credit unions are united on a cooperative basis in the Central Credit Union (US Central Credit Union).
The main activities of credit unions, aimed at the organization of mutual aid and social support of citizens is not intended to profit. 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. 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.