Historically, credit unions were preceded by widespread development of credit cooperation in many countries of Europe and America. In 1908. the spread of credit unions has reached the United States. In 1935 President Roosevelt signed the state Charter on credit unions, which became a law. Credit unions encourage savings of citizens, setting compensation payments (interest) on savings and provide from these savings loans to their members. 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. 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. Initially, the target groups of credit unions were farmers (Raiffeisen), and now they include both individuals (credit unions), and organizations. The relationship between credit unions and shareholders arise from the membership and are not customer relationship. The supreme body of the World Council of Credit Unions is the Assembly, which elects the president and the board of directors of WOCCU. In the UK, credit unions are a source of financing of people groups. This tool is not widely used. Credit cooperatives and credit unions exist in many different forms. The main differences relate to the nature of the membership and the opening of a credit institution.