Principles of cooperative democracy and interaction were adequate to the purposes for which people joined credit unions. 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. Over 30% of the assets of credit unions are investments in government securities, certificates of deposit of banks and savings loan associations, as well as in the parent credit unions, and other risk-free investments. In the credit union compensation for use of the loan (interest) is a source of compensation for savings. Credit unions historically formed as a special form of social support, initially taken upon themselves the social mission of protecting the interests of citizens in the field of financial services. The specifics of credit unions and, in some sense, their uniqueness lies in the fact that they work not for profit and do not appropriate profit.