I've noticed some interesting behavior on the part of my bank I'd like to share with you. I won't tell you the name of the institution because it might expose me to litigation, but you have been warned.

My paycheck is direct deposited into my checking account, so when it registered on my online account, I knew I could start writing checks on it immediately, or do online transfers to other accounts. This used to happen at the speed of light, precisely at midnight after payday, but since the financial crisis, I've noticed a change.

Now the direct deposit is logged, but flagged as "pending", and if you read the fine print, that means it doesn't get added to my checking account for several working days. During that time, I could have checks bouncing all over town, and even transfers to my savings account could be returned with insufficient funds. Of course, there is a substantial cash penalty for every one of these, a new way for the bank to raise revenue during these harsh economic times. The new "electronic" checks being used by more and more merchants are debited to your account immediately, over the telephone, so it is possible that the debits can get to your account before the credits, even though the latter may have been deposited several days earlier.

My bank is one of those receiving Federal bailout money.