It was the first banking emergency in Rhode Island since the bank holidays of the Great Depression in 1933. Over 300,000 people, about a third of the state's population, lost access to their money, totaling about $1.7 billion. Depositors were notified that although they could not make deposits or withdrawals, they would still need to repay loans to those institutions and their money would continue to accrue interests. The state created a central phone hotline through the Department of Business Regulation, which had difficulty keeping up with the high call volume.
