I don't know about depositors being dispersed, but even if they were, that doesn't mean they weren't getting their money back; just that the police didn't want them congregating outside the bank. If IndyMac was an FDIC institution, those depositors should be getting their money back, at least the money in FDIC-insured accounts (if they had mutual funds at the bank, that would be a different story). Yes, it can be a potential disaster if you can't get your money back when you need it to pay your bills. I don't know how in how timely a fashion the banks are required to get money back to depositors. But, if the money was in an FDIC institution in an account like checking, savings, CD, etc., they should be able to get their money up to the FDIC limits ($100K per account, I think).

Given the fractional nature of the current banking system, there is no guarantee that your money will be there for you to withdraw on demand. Just ask the account holders at IndyMac Bank, who were ordered by the police to disperse after they lined up in front of their branch to get their hard-earned money out. How many of us have enough food, gasoline, and are ahead enough with rent and utilities to not have access to our money at any bank? How many of us have direct deposit so any hours we are working right now get deposited in a bank account instead of being put directly into our hand? How many of us have an automatic debit plan to pay bills directly through our checking accounts each time the bills come due? Our creditors are not going to care that our bank is having cash-flow problems. The FDIC is there to protect the bank's money, not ours. DO YOU HAVE THE WRITE STUFF?