What on earth is wrong with keeping a "serious" emergency fund in a savings-account-companion to the working checking account at a big bank?  Why chase a half-percent at a small institution and risk two days delay in an emergency shift of emergency funds into the working checking account?  In an emergency don't we need our emergency funds immediately?  I can see it only if those funds represent a temptation, but if they don't, then far better they be immediately available, surely?