A credit union is a cooperative society, incorporated for the twofold purpose of promoting thrift among its members and creating a source of credit for them at legitimate rates of interest, particularly among groups of industrial workers and farmers, fraternal and religious organizations, and in those communities where the citizens of the state are distantly removed from convenient centers of business or easy access to financial agencies now provided for by laws of Alabama.
Ala. Code § 5-17-1 (1975)