What if your bank failed to deposit your paycheck?

One piece of emergency prep advice that is often overlooked is to have some emergency cash at home. The typical reason given is that major storms will knock out power so ATMs won't work for several days when you might need cash to buy supplies or pay repairmen.

And now a recent event in England gives another reason...

Many people live from paycheck to paycheck with no reserves or savings. In June NatWest Bank had a computer glitch that failed to update customers’ balances overnight on a pay-day. Customers using ATMs or online found that their paycheck was not there! What did the bank do?  It apologized and promised to fix the problem “as soon as possible” (Wow what service!) It also said "no customers would be left permanently out of pocket" (huh, does this mean instant loans?) and kept 1000 branch offices open until 7pm just in case you had a day job.

Customers were not amused.