Credit Union - a financial non-profit organization, which operates on a cooperative basis with the aim of social protection of its members through vzaimokreditovaniya through their accumulated savings  credit union bank .
Non-profit credit union is that all of its activities are directed not to profit, but to provide credit and savings services to its members. Credit union - is a form of self-organization of people who unite their own, create for ourselves the ability to meet their needs in the financial field. Credit union - is a self-governing democratic organization in which members, and only members define the types of services that it provided, and set the conditions for their provision. As the international practice and its own history of Ukraine, Credit unions have always occurred when and where people were required certain financial services, but they did not provide, or any financial institution because of the unattractiveness of the financial sector of the market in terms of profit opportunities (commercial banks Ukraine today), or such services offered on unfavorable and often predatory terms, and the impossibility of using the monopoly of some way to meet their needs in small loans to the general public (pawnshops in Ukraine today.) In other words, the credit union - a financial mechanism through which people through their co-operation efforts, ideas and resources can get the necessary services are much cheaper than in the case when one of them tried to act independently. In particular, credit unions are defined by the following features:

1.
The credit union has always created and operates on the basis of a certain monolithic community of people united according to their interests, common activities or compact residence. This community serves as a field for his membership of the Credit Union. In Ukraine, the fields of membership for credit unions are labor groups, community organizations, trade unions, church congregations and territorial communities. This characteristic distinguishes credit unions from all business entities that are based any group of people united in order to profit in the economic turnover of investments.
2.
Credit unions provide services only to their members. Thus, in contrast to business entities in the credit union members at the same time act as owners and customers. Obviously, the members of the owner-it makes no sense "to make" profit for themselves as members of the client, and a common task of the League is providing the most affordable services to members from accumulated by them financial resources.
3.
The credit union is not the founders and charter capital from the point of view of the traditional interpretation of these concepts in relation to business entities. Any member, regardless of the date of its entry into the union, has the same management and ownership rights, as well as the first 50 founders. The credit union is an open organization, which guarantees freedom of entry and exit from the members.
4.
Each member of the union, regardless of the amount of his contributions, one has the right to vote in the management of the credit union. So, the credit union as a voluntary association of individuals can not be controlled by a limited number of people, that is the key to protecting the interests of all members and the construction of the Union on the basis of trust and mutual  credit union bank .
5.
Credit Union Administration is carried out according to the principles of democratic self-government. The highest governing body of the Union are the General Meeting of members, who convene at least one time per year. Assembly is elected from among the members of the three statutory bodies that operate in the period between meetings, namely the Board (the operational management of current activities, and services a portfolio of interest rate policy), the Credit Committee (implementation of monetary policy on the provision of loans and support members of the Union) and the Supervisory Committee (oversight of government union). All these agencies are working on a voluntary basis. If required by the decision of the Board of the Union may set up a pay Executive Directorate.
6.
The credit union does not deal with a single other business activities other than the provision of credit and savings services to its members. This symptom is caused by the fact that the activities of the Credit Union as an organization that does not set a goal to make a profit, aims to provide specific services, which defines it narrowly focused on the possible uses of the accumulated by members' savings funds.
7.
The credit union is created and acts primarily to allow members to get credit on reasonable terms. Interest earned on loans Union, constitute his income, which is then directed to the formation of funds and the interest on the contributions of members.
8.
Credit union in nature is not only effective mechanism vzaimokreditovaniya its members, but also non-governmental organization. Therefore, the Union by the General Meeting or the government can provide organizational and financial support for the implementation of a variety of community initiatives and humanitarian programs in the interests of their members, as well as to charitable and social projects for children, the disabled and other less well defended people  credit union bank .