Historically, credit unions were preceded by widespread development of credit cooperation in many countries of Europe and America. At the organization of the credit union it is important that people know each other and know the extent to which each of them is trustworthy. 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. 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. Taking a decision to join a credit union, citizens create an organization through which they participate in the shared savings by mutual crediting and joint (collective) use of personal savings. Unlike banks, in order to use the services of a credit union, you have to become its member, having written an application and having paid thus shares and membership fee. 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.