The uniqueness of credit unions is that they put together the principles and benefits of financial cooperatives, consumer cooperatives and mutual aid funds, born once by trade unions. Is necessary that all shareholders of the credit union were members of a single community, would know each other well enough to enjoy mutual trust. To reduce the risk of default on loans members of the credit union shall the joint guarantee. The main advantage of credit unions consists in transparency, controllability, governance for shareholders. The value of credit unions is not limited to the role of the economic agent - they are an important element of the social structure and a factor of social stability and progress. 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.