Federal Credit Union, they have the Federal Deposit Insurance. Whatever that means. I do know that when the California Franchise Tax Board erroneously claimed i owed them a few hundred dollars that J.P. Morgan Chase Manhattan locked me out of my account within minutes - and charged me ~$150 for the pleasure - but neither my credit union nor my Mellon bank accounts were affected at all.

Federal Credit Unions or just credit unions. They're smaller, community banks with a different organizational structure. They're something akin to a co-op, so member-owned.