The Federal Reserve, which regulates the nation’s banking system, observes 11 federal holidays each year that could affect the availability of your funds at your bank and delay any deposits you have made or plan to make. A federal holiday may also mean your local branch is closed.
September. 5 is labor day. It’s a federal reserve holiday and almost all banks and their branches will be closed.
A check deposited on a federal bank holiday may delay your availability of funds and account to the next business day. A federal bank holiday can also cause a bill payment to be delayed if the processing date falls on the holiday.
here are the federal reserve system bank holidays for 2022-2023:
*nov. 11, 2023, it’s Saturday. the federal reserve board of governors is closed nov. 10, 2023.
**Board of Governors closes June 20, 2022, Dec. 26, 2022 and Jan. February 2, 2023.
note: the federal government refers to presidents day as washington’s birthday.
source: federal reserve
most banks are closed on federal holidays
rose oswald poels started working for the wisconsin bankers association more than 20 years ago. Back then, Oswald Poels, who is now the group’s chairman and CEO, says many banks were open on holidays like Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, Columbus Day and Veterans Day.
“In today’s world, it’s very different,” says Oswald Poels.
More banks choose to close on Federal Reserve System holidays, such as Washington’s birthday or Columbus Day. Oswald Poels says some banks can take advantage of the weekday holiday closure to hold trainings for all staff or volunteer in the community.
chase, pnc and wells fargo, for example, will be closed on 11 federal reserve bank holidays in 2022 or on the day the holiday is observed.
banks can open on a federal reserve bank holiday
A bank may choose to be open on a federal reserve holiday. transactions are generally processed the same way they would on a weekend.
For example, if you sign paperwork to send a domestic wire transfer at your bank on a Saturday morning, that transfer will not be processed until at least Monday morning, assuming Monday is not a Federal Reserve holiday. The same is true if you deposit a check at a bank (or online or at an ATM) on a holiday. If your bank is open on one of the Federal Reserve System holidays, the Fed will likely reopen the next business day. transactions on the automated clearinghouse network are also not processed on a bank holiday or weekend.
The Federal Reserve, for example, is closed on the second Monday in October for Columbus Day. therefore, if you deposit a check into your bank account on the Saturday before the holiday, the soonest the check will be fully available will typically be Tuesday if the bank has same-day availability.
customers at a bank without same-day availability won’t have their money available until Wednesday, says oswald poels.
online accessibility on federal reserve bank holidays
Online access should be the same on holidays as any other day or night, assuming the bank’s site is not down due to maintenance or other issues.
“If you bank online, if you use remote deposit capture through your phone to make deposits, all the technology functions will still work,” says oswald poels. “so you can do those transactions. but the effect of what that means (on federal holidays) is another story.”
Although you can deposit a check using a smartphone on one of these holidays, the transaction may not be processed until the next business day at the earliest.
You can also usually open a bank account online on a Federal Reserve System holiday, like on an evening or weekend, including checking, savings, money market, or cds.
other parties and a new party
Banks are generally open on Black Friday, Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, although your bank may decide to close early on one of these days.
“everything is processed normally through the system (these days) also because the feed is also open”, says oswald poels.
With the adoption of June 19, 2021 National Independence Day on June 19, the Federal Reserve added an additional bank holiday to its calendar. As with other date-specific federal holidays, June 19 is observed on the Friday before or the Monday after if June 19 falls on a Saturday or Sunday, respectively.
pay bills during federal reserve holidays
It’s always better to pay bills a few days early. that way, if a holiday or weekend isn’t on your radar, the bill should be paid on time.
“If you’ve set up automatic bill pay from your account, you’d expect most people to arrange bill payments so that the date the transaction is initiated isn’t literally the last day the bill is due ”, says oswald poels.
Automatic bill payments that fall on or near a Federal Reserve System holiday or weekend will not be processed until the next business day.
“Make sure you leave enough wiggle room from the actual due date to the time you initiate the bill payment request,” says oswald poels.