To date, credit unions - virtually the only form of financial institution where people can quickly and without any problems get a relatively inexpensive cash loan. Principles of cooperative democracy and interaction were adequate to the purposes for which people joined credit unions. 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. 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 supreme body of the World Council of Credit Unions is the Assembly, which elects the president and the board of directors of WOCCU.