Historically, credit unions were preceded by widespread development of credit cooperation in many countries of Europe and America. Like the credit cooperatives, credit unions form associations of a higher level, which are called corporate credit unions. Principles of cooperative democracy and interaction were adequate to the purposes for which people joined credit unions. Credit union promotes the effective conservation of personal funds of its members, giving them the loans from the funds of the credit union, as well as the sharing of savings in education, housing, health care and other programs of social support and social development of its members. Income derived from the provision of services to its members, does not become the profit of credit union and is distributed among its members in proportion to their savings. Initially, the target groups of credit unions were farmers (Raiffeisen), and now they include both individuals (credit unions), and organizations. Unlike banks, in order to use the services of a credit union, you have to become its member, having written an application and having paid thus shares and membership fee. Credit union as a consumer cooperative operates on the principles of equality of all its members.
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Principles of cooperative democracy and interaction were adequate to the purposes for which people joined credit unions. Credit union promotes the effective conservation of personal funds of its members, giving them the loans from the funds of the credit union, as well as the sharing of savings in education, housing, health care and other programs of social support and social development of its members. Like the credit cooperatives, credit unions form associations of a higher level, which are called corporate credit unions.
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Representative organization, leading the coordination work in the field of development of both global and national credit union movement is the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) established in 1971 (headquartered in Madison, USA). Main share of credit unions assets is concentrated in loans (about 50%), while the share of consumer loans in commercial banks and finance companies active operations rarely exceeds 15%. The most common type of loans in credit unions are loans to purchase new and used cars (40%), followed by first mortgages and second mortgages (35%), about 10% are unsecured personal loans to member of unions and about 15% - are loans on credit cards and other loans. Credit unions also differ from the traditional consumer cooperatives. Among the U.S. credit unions, there are three groups that differ in terms of assets, shareholders, and business services. All the members of the credit union, regardless of gender, ethnicity, religious and political beliefs, as well as the size of the monetary share have equal rights. The relationship of shareholders with credit union are not client-based, they are co-operative, based on different principles and standards, in particular, on the principles of the law of obligations. Important specifics of creating a credit union - an initiative order of organization: people do not receive any instructions, orders or regulations, the unification into a credit union occurs by their will and decision. 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.