Like any financial institution, credit unions have the financial resources. Borrowing rate for the credit union is a source of income to cover the administrative costs. All excess funds are returned to members in the form of dividends on savings. In recent decades, many credit unions began to resort to such form of service as To reduce the risk of default on loans members of the credit union shall the joint guarantee. The main advantage of credit unions consists in transparency, controllability, governance for shareholders. 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). 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. Contributions from of shareholders in credit unions in no way can be considered as borrowed funds, they come from the shareholders and for the shareholders and can not be used to provide services to third parties. Unlike banks, in order to use the services of a credit union, you have to become its member, having written an application and having paid thus shares and membership fee.