I did a thought experiment. If FDIC and NCUA deposit insurance didn't exist, would I trust a bank of a credit union more with my deposits? I landed with credit unions due to the overt malfeasance of banks.

The FDIC exists to keep banks afloat, because they're untrustworthy on their own.

If everyone moved their money to credit unions, they'd become just as bad as banks.

I don't consider size to be the primary determiner of how banks operate re: good or bad. I consider the ownership model to primarily determine incentives and behavior. They are, of course, are not uncorrelated, but rather when attributing primary cause, I see credit unions incentives aligned with their clientele because they are one and the same. Whereas banks have a larger discrepancy between owners and customers.

A bank exists to serve the interests of their shareholders, a credit union exists to serve the interests of their members. Unless you happen to be a significant shareholder in your bank, credit unions are more aligned with your interests.

All things exist to serve the interests of itself.

I don't think much of this is true. While corporate credit unions did participate in TARP[0], for example, that's not the common perception. Not only were they primarily corporate credit unions rather than consumer credit unions, far fewer of them participated in the program than banks: around 20% as many.

For people, credit union accounts are federally insured just like bank accounts are, but credit unions are typically much more resilient than banks given the additional restrictions on how much leverage they can engage in. They close less often than banks, and also seem to be more likely to merge than close[1], contrary to your claim.

You're welcome to keep banking elsewhere, but it's all credit unions for me and my extended family.

0. https://thefinancialbrand.com/news/bank-culture/tarp-on-cred...

1. https://www.bankrate.com/banking/credit-unions/list-of-faile...

Perhaps I summarized incorrectly, I was getting most of that information from here https://ncua.gov/about-ncua/historical-timeline

(your linked sources are horrible sources just in case you were not aware: both are paid media fronts designed to drive revenue through clicks, not reliable sources)

My bad on the sources, I searched for links to support my memories, and didn't pay close attention.