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Today's the day we got the bill for the credit crunch.

We already owned Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley's mortgages and loans - after the Government stepped in to rescue both those banks.

Now we're buying 60 percent of RBS - owner of Natwest and the Royal Bank of Scotland. And a big chunk of the soon-to-be-merged Lloyds TSB/HBOS - which will own Lloyds, Halifax, Bank of Scotland and a whole host more.

We're all bank shareholders now. Our colleague Robert Peston has called it a "momentous Monday".

Think of it this way. If one of the major political parties had stood at the last election with a manifesto promise to take the major banks into public ownership, how many votes do you think it would have attracted? As political blogs like have noted, such a plan hasn't been mooted since Labour's manifesto in 1983 - the manifesto later dubbed "".

The cost to us is £37 billion. And this is real money. This isn't like the billions of pounds that the Bank of England has loaned to the big banks over recent months. That was like giving the high street banks an extra credit card, guaranteed by the Bank of England. We only had to cough up if the banks didn't pay it back.

This is hard cash, which the Government is using to buy bank shares. Not for nothing are ministers describing it as an "investment". We only get it back if we can sell the shares at a later date - and if the shares are at the same price or more than we're paying for them.

We're going to look at the questions you've already raised in your emails this morning - questions you're asking as taxpayers, customers and shareholders: Where will the Government get this money? What will happen to my account? What will happen to my dividend payment?

And what about that promise to continue loans to small businesses and homeowners - it looks lovely, but does it actually mean anything? Simon's looking into that.

Elsewhere - as it's Monday, we're bringing you more tips on saving money. (That's why we call it Money Saving Monday.) So you'll hear more about my Granny and her economic regime. Today we're looking at her Golden Rules for grocery shopping. It involves a lot of rummaging around in the bargain bin.

As it happens, my mum and dad are over for a visit so they're going to be in the control room during the programme. Mum, if you're reading - you will NOT be allowed to speak.