I always like the variations on "Do I need an emergency fund?" on this forum, and it's interesting to see how many completely different answers that come up, and the disparity of how much cash different people keep on hand. For many years I've kept somewhere between $5k-$10k in a savings account. Some of it gets allocated to my Roth IRA, vacations, and larger planned purchases, but I always keep a minimum of $5k in there as an emergency fund, just in case something really bad happens (Or the Mercedes 300D Turbodiesel of my dreams pops up, and I need CASH NOW). Anyway, that's the number that I feel comfortable with. It's mostly an emotional decision.
Well, I've never, ever had a need for that emergency fund. Until late last month, when my debit card information was stolen, with over $1100 in charges made in a few hours (How does someone spend $830 at Rite Aid? I don't even want to know). My bank notified me quickly, but due to a whole shitstorm of Kafkaesque machinations on their part, plus the fact that I don't live anywhere near a physical branch, I had no access to my money for 9 days. No online banking. No ATM access. No money in checking until they processed a credit for the fraudulent purchases. Wow, good thing I have that emergency fund! Except - you guessed it - I also could not access my emergency fund during that time. Oops.
So my credit card and cash borrowed from my SO became the emergency fund for 9 days. Which happens to approximate the approach recommended by the "You don't need an emergency fund" camp on this board.
There's no moral here, except that if you are in the "I need an emergency fund" camp, you might want to set it up so you can access it outside of your normal banking routine.