Almost nobody chooses a financial institution based on how it is chartered, insured, or supervised, and almost everybody assumes those questions have the same answer everywhere. They do not. This article explains the difference between a credit union and a bank as a matter of law rather than marketing, why a credit union has members instead of shareholders and what that actually changes, and how the field-of-membership rules that determine who may join became one of the most litigated questions in banking. It explains deposit insurance as it actually operates — the ownership categories that decide coverage, why the limit is not per account or per person, and the specific titling mistakes that leave money uninsured. It explains what happens when an institution fails, on what timeline, and what depositors and borrowers experience. It covers the supervisory system that produces those outcomes, the preemption doctrine that determines whose consumer protection law applies, and the member and customer rights that exist regardless of charter. It closes with what actually matters when choosing where to keep money.