Banks are not required to close on the holidays designated by the U.S. Federal Reserve System, but they usually do. Expect bank branches to be closed on New Year’s Day, Monday, Jan. 1.
Here is the Fed’s holiday schedule for 2024:
- New Year’s Day: Monday, Jan. 1
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day: Monday, Jan. 15
- Washington’s Birthday/Presidents Day: Monday, Feb. 19
- Memorial Day: Monday, May 27
- Juneteenth National Independence Day: Wednesday, June 19
- Independence Day: Thursday, July 4
- Labor Day: Monday, Sept. 2
- Columbus Day: Monday, Oct. 14
- Veterans Day: Monday, Nov. 11
- Thanksgiving: Thursday, Nov. 28
- Christmas: Wednesday, Dec. 25
On these days, brick-and-mortar branches will likely be closed. (One notable exception among major banks is TD Bank, which does business on some federal holidays but will be closed on Jan. 1.) If so, in-person services are not available. Tellers and other staff get the day off, and drive-through service is typically closed, too, unless it’s automated. ATMs should be accessible.
Digital banking remains open, however, regardless of what America is celebrating that day. You can transact routine banking business via your bank’s or credit union’s website or app. If you have an online account, you can:
Your bank may offer additional digital services; check its website for information.
Here are some other things to know about banking, or not banking, on federal holidays.
Processing may take longer
Electronic bank transfers are routed through the Federal Reserve, so they don’t advance on holidays when the Fed is closed. (The same goes for weekends.) Thus, banking business you do online on a holiday will not start processing until the next business day.
Similarly, if it typically takes, say, two or three business days for a check deposit to clear or for a payment to process, the holiday won’t count toward those days.
The day of the week matters
By law, five of the 11 Federal Reserve holidays — Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Washington’s Birthday/Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day and Columbus Day — always take place on a Monday. The rest occur on fixed dates and periodically fall on a Sunday. In that instance, the Fed observes the holiday on the following Monday, and banks often do the same.
If a holiday falls on a Saturday, the Fed does not observe it on the Friday before.
Schedules may differ by state
Some states have distinct holidays of their own or observe holidays that are not on the federal calendar, such as Good Friday (which falls on March 29 this year), the day after Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve. Bank branches in your state might close or operate with shorter hours on those days.
