Historically, credit unions were preceded by widespread development of credit cooperation in many countries of Europe and America. Corporate credit unions are united on a cooperative basis in the Central Credit Union (US Central Credit Union). The main advantage of credit unions consists in transparency, controllability, governance for shareholders. National Credit Union Insurance Fund was created by Congress in 1970 to insure deposits of credit union members in the amount of 100 thousand dollars. Initially, the target groups of credit unions were farmers (Raiffeisen), and now they include both individuals (credit unions), and organizations. In some cases, the initiators of credit unions can be trade unions, associations such as social support centers and others. 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. On the consumer credit market in the U.S. credit unions are on the third place after the commercial banks and finance companies and are ahead of savings institutions, not taking into account the loans on real estate.