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. Share contributions are transferred to the credit union on the basis of membership for the whole stay of a shareholder as member of the credit union and are the basis of membership. All the members of the credit union, regardless of gender, ethnicity, religious and political beliefs, as well as the size of the monetary share have equal rights. The main advantage of credit unions consists in transparency, controllability, governance for shareholders. Shareholders in corporate organizations are basic credit unions, besides the same union can be a shareholder of several corporate organizations. Credit unions, like today's credit unions, emerged in the 19th century in Germany as a result of crop failure and famine. Credit unions historically formed as a special form of social support, initially taken upon themselves the social mission of protecting the interests of citizens in the field of financial services. 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.