Historically, credit unions were preceded by widespread development of credit cooperation in many countries of Europe and America. Like any financial institution, credit unions have the financial resources. Principles of cooperative democracy and interaction were adequate to the purposes for which people joined credit unions. Among the U.S. credit unions, there are three groups that differ in terms of assets, shareholders, and business services. Since the early 80's started the process of consolidation of credit unions, leading to a decrease in their number with a simultaneous increase in the total number of members. 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. Contributions from of shareholders in credit unions in no way can be considered as borrowed funds, they come from the shareholders and for the shareholders and can not be used to provide services to third parties. 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 cooperatives and credit unions exist in many different forms. The main differences relate to the nature of the membership and the opening of a credit institution. Unlike banks credit unions limit their activities to a closed circle of people.