Some credit unions are closed, serving only their members. However, the more and more popularitywin cooperatives of open type. Cooperation between credit unions, how they would not have been named, took place always, from the moment when the movement moved outside one credit union. 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. Credit unions base their activities on savings of shareholders, their shares and savings contributions, which make up the fund of mutual financial assistance - a source of cash loans to shareholders. 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.