Thanksgiving is a time to sit down with family and dig into a plate heaping with roast turkey, stuffing, and all the fixings, covered in gravy of course. Expect the staff at your local banking to be doing to same so make plans if you expect to need to use a bank.

Thanksgiving is one of 13 bank holidays in the United States and is celebrated every fourth Thursday of November. This year Thanksgiving falls on 26 November and although not all banks observe every bank holiday, Thanksgiving is one that is almost universally observed across the US by all businesses.

When will banks be open?

Millions of Americans travel to visit family around the US and although the CDC and other health officials have recommended not traveling this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the TSA has reported the most traffic at airports since March. Many businesses including banks close for Thanksgiving Day to give their employees a chance to visit with family to sit down for the traditional roast turkey meal. However, the rest of the week should see normal opening hours, so you can do your banking on either the Wednesday before or the Friday after.

Call your local bank branch to see what their hours will be on these days and whether you need an appointment, due to the pandemic some branches have limited hours and capacity inside the building.

If you must do any transactions on the day of Thanksgiving you can use an ATM or online banking service. However, be aware that the Federal Reserve will be closed Thanksgiving Day so any money transfers done between banks online will not be processed until the following day.

What to do in an emergency

If you need to make a transfer to someone in a hurry on Thanksgiving Day you can look into using a peer-to-peer or mobile payment system but research which one you are going to use first since not all send money instantly. The best option is to check with your bank to see if they have a service already integrated into their online app.

You can also try calling your local bank to see if they are open or have someone watching the ship, but don’t be surprised if no one picks up the phone.