Membership in the credit union is voluntary and is open to all citizens bound by with joint work or residence, who wished to create a credit union to use its services and are willing to take on relevant commitments and responsibilities. Credit unions of the open type are still controlled by their members, but at the same time provide services to people who are not its members (external customers). Standards by which credit unions build their work do not coincide with the standards and regulations of consumer cooperation of the usual type. 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. Worldwide credit union movement is represented by regional confederations and national organizations within the World Council of Credit Unions.