Like any financial institution, credit unions have the financial resources. Most modern credit unions represent specialized consumer cooperatives of citizens associated by the principle of social community: place of work, place of residence, profession, or any other shared interest. In the U.S. credit unions timely and full repayment of loans is a common phenomenon. Unpaid and delinquent loans are not more than 3% of their amount. First central bank of credit unions appeared in 1876. Credit unions began to appear rapidly in many European countries. The main activities of credit unions, aimed at the organization of mutual aid and social support of citizens is not intended to profit. 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 right to use the services of the credit union have only its members. U.S. credit unions have another significant difference from the credit cooperatives of farmers: the first have major proportion of short-term loans, the second - long and mostly in real estate.