In the U.S., credit unions have a clear organizational structure. All credit unions belong to one or the other parent credit union (there are 35 of them in the U.S.). Principles of cooperative democracy and interaction were adequate to the purposes for which people joined credit unions. When organizing the credit union it is important that people know each other and know the extent to which each of them is trustworthy. At the organization of the credit union it is important that people know each other and know the extent to which each of them is trustworthy. 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. International cooperation has been particularly felt since the days when Alphonse Desjardins began the activity on development of credit union movement in North America. Until the mid-XX century, credit unions in the United States had little assets that did not exceed, as a rule, 100 thousand dollars 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. In the UK, credit unions are a source of financing of people groups. This tool is not widely used. Corporate alliances are intermediaries between credit unions and financial markets.