A Brief History of the Savings and Loan Crisis of 1980

Thrift Institution: A financial institution focusing on taking deposits and originating home mortgages. Thrift banks often have access to low-cost funding from Federal Home Loan Banks, which allows for higher savings account yields to customers and increased liquidity for mortgage loans. 

Investopedia http://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/thriftbank.asp#ixzz3lrKakq7Y 

In 1980, hundreds of savings and loan institutions became insolvent due to unsound banking practices.

The crisis compounded itself when the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation went bankrupt due to the crisis.The Resolution Trust Corporation was formed by the Financial Institutions Reform and Enforcement Act in August 1989. The federal agency managed the closure and sell-off of 460 billion in assets and 225 billion in liabilities. It impacted fewer than 25 million U.S. bank accounts.
The mission of the RTC was:

"to sell defunct S&L assets to recoup as much money as possible"

"to minimize the impact of such transactions on local real estate and financial markets"

"to maximize the availability and affordability of residential real estate for low- and moderate-income individuals."

The assets were sold off in sealed bid auctions when two or more parties became interested in the same asset.
The agency did sell off the assets and recovered some funds for depositors fast but at lower returns. In 1993 with the RTC Completion Act, responsibility and records went over to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/encyclopedia/Res-Sec/Resolution-Trust-Corporation-RTC.html