ACH Holiday Schedule 2026: Days ACH Payments Don't Settle

ACH payments in the US settle through the Federal Reserve (FedACH) and The Clearing House (EPN), and both follow the Federal Reserve holiday schedule. On the days below, no ACH entries settle, and anything due that day moves to the next business day.

2026 ACH and Fedwire holidays

The weekend rule people get wrong

When a holiday falls on a Sunday, the Federal Reserve Banks close on the following Monday. When a holiday falls on a Saturday, they stay open on the preceding Friday. That second rule differs from the federal-government schedule (federal offices close on the Friday), so many calendars built from "US federal holidays" wrongly mark that Friday as a bank holiday and delay payments by a day.

How a bank holiday delays an ACH payment

• Direct deposit / payroll: if payday falls on a Fed holiday, employers normally move the effective date to the previous business day so employees aren't paid late. Payroll files must be submitted earlier than usual.
• ACH debits (bill pay, loan autopay): a debit scheduled for a holiday settles the next business day; lenders usually treat the payment as on time.
• Same Day ACH: there are no settlement windows on holidays; entries submitted then settle in the first window of the next business day.
• Weekends: ACH does not settle on Saturdays or Sundays either, so a Monday holiday means a 3-day gap.

Check ACH business days in code

Don't hard-code this table. Use the us-fed calendar in the Bankday API:

curl "https://bankday.jacklehoff4866.workers.dev/v1/business-day?calendar=us-fed&date=2026-11-11" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BANKDAY_KEY"

curl "https://bankday.jacklehoff4866.workers.dev/v1/ach/settlement?type=same_day&submitted_at=2026-11-10T15:30:00-05:00" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BANKDAY_KEY"

See also: Same Day ACH cut-off times · Federal Reserve calendar · bank vs stock-market holidays