Most modern credit unions represent specialized consumer cooperatives of citizens associated by the principle of social community: place of work, place of residence, profession, or any other shared interest. Credit unions attract people in the first place by the opportunity to get cash loan (credit) - quickly and relatively inexpensively. Some credit unions are closed, serving only their members. However, the more and more popularitywin cooperatives of open type. Until the 70's there was a proliferation of the U.S. credit unions due to the increase of their number and the number of shareholders, although it must be acknowledged that there was also and a qualitative growth. Until the mid-XX century, credit unions in the United States had little assets that did not exceed, as a rule, 100 thousand dollars Initially, the target groups of credit unions were farmers (Raiffeisen), and now they include both individuals (credit unions), and organizations.