Credit unions encourage savings of citizens, setting compensation payments (interest) on savings and provide from these savings loans to their members. Principles of cooperative democracy and interaction were adequate to the purposes for which people joined credit unions. Credit unions also differ from the traditional consumer cooperatives. Credit union is created by a group of members who pursue a common interest. Agreeing to make regular contributions, they create a fund from which can borrow money for investments and replenishment of working capital at favorable interest rates. 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. When organizing the credit union it is important that people know each other and know the extent to which each of them is trustworthy. As of the January 1, 2012 the national associations and confederations unite more than 196 million members participating in the 51,013 credit unions in 100 countries. 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. The specifics of credit unions and, in some sense, their uniqueness lies in the fact that they work not for profit and do not appropriate profit.