There are approximately 13,500 member-owned cooperative financial institutions, known as credit unions, in the U.S. Their roots go back to 1849 when the first credit union was established. It began amidst the poverty of the mid 1800’s in Germany. The Mayor at that time encouraged farmers to pool their money and make loans to each other rather than borrow from moneylenders. This concept spread to Canada and the U.S. in the early 1900’s. Edward Filene is the father of the American credit union movement.