Some credit unions are closed, serving only their members. However, the more and more popularitywin cooperatives of open type. 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. In the case of default the shareholder - individual will respond with its property and, in addition, is jointly and severally liable with the credit union's commitments. In some cases, the initiators of credit unions can be trade unions, associations such as social support centers and others. In the UK, credit unions are a source of financing of people groups. This tool is not widely used. 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.