The fundamental cost to society of the failure of a depository intermediary is the decline in the value of society's wealth due to the misallocation or misapplication of capital by the institution. That loss is fixed at the time the capital is allocated and, aside from bankruptcy costs, is unaffected the method of case resolution. However, the cost incurred by the insuring agency is not fixed and is affected by the chosen technique. In this paper we examine alternative methods of handling failed thrifts and develop models to evaluate the cost to the FSLIC of each type.