You do have a reasonable expectation, up to $250,000. You did at the time too. Nobody made any depositor incur excess risk beyond the insured amount. It was all clear and open, available to everybody. Everyone in the US knows that if they put over that amount in a bank, only up to that amount is guaranteed safe. Those that don't know pay other people to know, or they have so little they don't have to worry about the amount.