Wildcats

Wildcat banking is a term that was used during this era to describe a bank that is illegitimately run and has set up their bank with the intent to rip off the general public.Much like the banks seen after the suspension law was passed in Michigan, these banks would issue notes in much greater amounts than they could redeem upon demand. Although many banks operated on fractional-reserves and could not redeem all of the notes issued, generally wildcats typically could not redeem even a small portion. A concrete definition was never quite determined, but it usually was the most unsound of free banks during this era that would be classified as 'wildcat'.