Hi,
Hopefully this makes sense...
I have been with the same bank for about 11 years. This past weekend I noticed that electronic transactions are posting on Saturdays. I called my bank and they stated that they are using a new system and that they were assuming that electronic transactions must now be posting on Saturdays in addition to Mon-Fri. They also said that their business days have not changed and are still Mon-Fri and that any deposit's made after 2:30pm Friday's will not be posted until Monday.

Aren't banks supposed to inform customers of changes?

How can a they not allow deposit's to post on Saturday's but can clear transactions on Saturday's?

This is a very good question. I hope some members here answer this one. I see no one has so far. I thought banks were supposed to inform customers 30 days prior to starting new procedures, but I'm not sure.

It's probably a parameter setting within their new system. Our software allows us to specify when ACH transactions post. We have it set to where if the effective date of a credit falls on the weekend, then we will post it on Friday. If the effective date of a debit falls on the weekend, then we post it on Monday.

Although the question undoubtedly arose because of a Saturday debit, don't forget that any direct deposit or other credit dated for Saturday will also post, and I'll bet there won't be complaints.

Some banks elect to have "warehoused" ACH items -- those received in advance of Settlement Date -- post to customer accounts early even though the bank hasn't yet received payment for those transactions.

Ok, I've asked this before, I think ...

I was always told that ACH items are sent through at midnight. Is this true, or can ACH items come through at anytime?

Also, if they always come through at midnight and something has an effective date of Monday, does it come through at midnight Friday or Sunday?

They don't all come in at midnight. They come in at various times of the day. Generally, they only are transmitted by ACH on business days (M-F).

ACH transacations can be transmitted at any point. In the Federal Reserve cycle, there are 4 distributions per day (all times eastern - 12:00 noon, 4:00 pm, 10:00 pm, and 1:00 am). In reality, the distributions generally happen before this time. So, if a bank originates an item at 10:00 AM and delivers it to the Federal Reserve, your bank could receive this item at the 12:00 noon distribution - just 2 hours later. However, with the exception of return items before 12:00 noon, the Fed does not allow for same day posting of entries, so your account should not be debited/credited until the next day, what the Fed calls the settlement date (this is different that an effective date, which is the day the originator says the payment should be made). Only the Fed can set the settlement date.

I don't know about items sent via the private ACH exchange and how they work.

Aren't they supposed to notify customers 30day prior to changes?

How did you notice that the transactions posted on the weekends? Most banks memo-post electronic transactions and keep a running balance so if you looked on the internet to your bank account, it is possible that they are showing you the provisional postings, such as debit card transactions and memo-posted ACH credits. If you look on your monthly bank statements, the daily balance would only be shown for M-F. You'd only be charged OD fees if the end of day balance on M-F was overdrawn.