The holiday season is approaching, and with it come celebrations, last-minute shopping, and for many, the financial headache that comes with this time of year. Everyone needs a break, even PNC Bank, which will close its doors for 24 hours on Thursday, December 25, 2025.
The fact is that banks, although they love money, are quite traditional and like to close on national holidays. If you need to make transfers or deposits around this time of year, here are some tips to ensure that your money doesn’t get frozen along with the Christmas spirit. Just because your branch is closed doesn’t mean you have to be stuck on Christmas Day. A little advance planning is the only way to ensure that your money moves when you need it to.
Why do banks remain closed on December 25?
Many people wonder why absolutely all major banks take the day off at the same time. This is not an arbitrary decision by PNC Bank or any other commercial bank. The decision comes from higher up, in accordance with the US federal holiday. Quite simply, they close on Christmas Day. Virtually all major institutions (including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo) will also close their branches.
In fact, no banks remain open on December 25 in the United States because they cannot operate effectively if the central system is down. The Federal Reserve system is the nation’s central bank. If it closes for a holiday, it also closes and stops the flow of money. It’s as if the Federal Reserve were the country’s main highway for money, and all the vehicles were the commercial banks that use it.
This means that key interbank networks, such as the Automated Clearing House (ACH), which manages electronic transfers, simply do not work. That’s why even if you try to make an online transfer on that day, nothing happens, because even though you’re doing it from your home computer, no one is working.
How this affects your transfers and deposits
If you unfortunately need to make an urgent transaction on that day, you will be in trouble, as the system is completely shut down until the 26th. If you make a transfer on the 25th, you will have to wait until the 26th—the next business day—for it to be processed.
External transfers, which are most commonly used to pay rent, send money to someone else, or move funds between accounts at different banks, are the most affected. If you make this type of payment on December 25, the one- to three-business-day processing cycle will begin on December 26. Check deposits, whether through the mobile app, at an ATM, or at a branch, will not be processed until the next day as well.
The same applies to bill payments: if the due date is the 25th, the payment will be delayed… Which may result in late fees.
If you want to avoid this unpleasant situation, you can avoid delays by meeting the cut-off time. Any time-sensitive transactions must be completed before your bank’s cutoff time—usually 5:00 p.m. on the previous day, Wednesday, December 24. So, set a few alarms in the days leading up to the deadline and make your payments in advance if you don’t want to incur late fees.
Other days the banks close
December 25 and November 27 (Thanksgiving) are just two of the days when banks close. Most US institutions strictly observe 11 federal holidays each year. Keep in mind that if a holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, it is observed on the previous Friday or following Monday, which also freezes banking operations on that business day. It’s best to have a paper calendar stuck to the refrigerator or on your desk to mark these kinds of things. It’s better to have a physical reminder than to have a bad experience on a holiday when you have to send your rent money and can’t.