Depository Institutions Act of 1982

1982 was huge. Thriller…E.T.…Knight Rider…the Depository Institutions Act…

Say what? While it might not be as exciting as the Prince of Pop dancing with zombies, the Depository Institutions Act had plenty of an effect on finance.

For starters, the act was intended to make savings and loan institutions, such as banks, more competitive. Perhaps its most famous provision is that it enabled thrift institutions (credit unions, mutual savings banks, etc.) to offer money market savings accounts with no ceiling on interest rates.

On the downside, the Depository Institutions Act might have played a part in the savings and loan crisis of the '80s and '90s that saw the failure of more than 1,000 S&L associations. (Cue evil Vincent Price laughter.)