Unless you can buy a house entirely in cash, finding the right house is only half the battle. The other half is choosing the best type of mortgage. Since you'll likely be paying back your mortgage over a long period of time, it's important to find a loan that meets your needs and your budget. When you borrow money from a lender, you're making a legal agreement to repay that loan over a set amount of time – with interest.

During the Great Depression, panicky Americans converted deposits into currency and thousands of banks that could not meet withdrawal demands were forced to close. When the banks closed, depositors ended up losing all of their savings. Consequently, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Banking Act of 1933, which created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).