The economic basis of credit unions - finances of a household. The main objective of the credit union - to ensure financial stability of a household, to ensure the priority of their shareholders' financial interests. Principles of cooperative democracy and interaction were adequate to the purposes for which people joined credit unions. First central bank of credit unions appeared in 1876. Credit unions began to appear rapidly in many European countries. The main advantage of credit unions consists in transparency, controllability, governance for shareholders. 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. 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. Credit union as a consumer cooperative operates on the principles of equality of all its members.