Historically, credit unions were preceded by widespread development of credit cooperation in many countries of Europe and America. To get a loan in the credit union a shareholder must be not only a formally adopted there, but necessary pay in cash contributions, the amount and order of payment of which approved by the General Assembly and fixed by the charter. The first credit union in the United States was founded in 1909. by the group of Franco-American Catholics in Manchester, New Hampshire, and was called "Cooperative Credit Association of St. Mary. " Credit unions attract people in the first place by the opportunity to get cash loan (credit) - quickly and relatively inexpensively. Specialization of credit unions to provide financial services to its shareholders requires a particularly strict regulation of membership and acceptable activities. Income received by the credit union shall be distributed among the shareholders or spent for the depreciation of services, that is, are the most effective means of meeting the needs of shareholders. Membership in the credit union forms responsible citizens and conscientious attitude to their obligations as a norm of behavior, identify the value of a decent man's reputation in the business turnover. Historically, credit unions have grown from the experience of credit cooperatives, but they took the experience of organizations of mutual aid of citizens by moving methods of social self-protection from labor and toward consumption. Corporate alliances are intermediaries between credit unions and financial markets.