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A Credit Union is a co-operative owned and controlled by its members, which provides financial services similar to those provided by banks to its members. All members of  a credit union have an account in the credit union. Unlike banks, which are for profit organizations, which operate for the benefit of  their owners or share holders, credit union's decisions are taken mainly to benefit their members.

Since credit unions receive many benefits from the Government, regulatory agencies specify that membership of  a credit union be restricted to people who live, work, attend school in a specific geographic area , share common religious beliefs or have common interests. A person remains a member of  a credit union through out  his or her life, though s/he may no longer qualify for the membership of  the credit union. A member of  the credit union can resign from the membership at any time.

The size of credit unions varies, some may have a few members, others may have assets of millions of dollars. The United States , India and Canada are some of  the countries where credit unions have millions of  members.