Like any financial institution, credit unions have the financial resources. The economic basis of credit unions - finances of a household. The main objective of the credit union - to ensure financial stability of a household, to ensure the priority of their shareholders' financial interests. Credit unions encourage savings of citizens, setting compensation payments (interest) on savings and provide from these savings loans to their members. In the U.S. credit unions timely and full repayment of loans is a common phenomenon. Unpaid and delinquent loans are not more than 3% of their amount. 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. Credit unions are competitors of savings institutions, adding interest on deposits of members. This applies to the shares, as well as to additional funds transferred to the account in the credit union. A potential new member of a credit union must submit a recommendation of shareholders in which the referee becomes a warrant of a future member of the credit union.