The first credit union in the United States was founded in 1909. by the group of Franco-American Catholics in Manchester, New Hampshire, and was called "Cooperative Credit Association of St. Mary. " Principles of cooperative democracy and interaction were adequate to the purposes for which people joined credit unions. 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. Credit unions of the open type are still controlled by their members, but at the same time provide services to people who are not its members (external customers). Initially, the target groups of credit unions were farmers (Raiffeisen), and now they include both individuals (credit unions), and organizations. 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. Credit unions are financial institutions, financial cooperatives of citizens, and in this capacity they are above all associations of people, not unification of capitals, which is typical, for example, for public companies. Credit Union - one of the most attractive financial institutions for the public being a non-profit alternative to banks.