Though a financial rescue plan was passed Friday, credit still remained tighter than ever.

The House voted in favor of the Treasury's $700 billion plan to buy up troubled assets from financial institutions. Those assets, mostly mortgage-related, have caused the credit markets to seize up.

The bill now goes to President Bush to sign into law.

But even with a rescue plan on the horizon that is designed to restore liquidity to the credit markets, banks still opted to hoard cash rather than lend to one another Friday.

Even if the bailout ultimately works to unlock credit markets, it would potentially take time. Institutions that sell their bad assets to the government could have to sell those securities at a huge discount, resulting in large writedowns. As a result, experts say it may be months after the legislation is enacted until banks start to see some relief.

"It will take some time for the markets to recover - this bill will not be an overnight cure," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist with Avalon Partners.

Meanwhile, banks remained hesitant to take on more risky loans while dragging their anchors of their own troubled assets.