What is the real definition of a "business day"?

March 2, 2009 5:25 PM

Has my cheque gone through it's 5 business day holding period yet?

I'm wanting to make an RSP contribution to my ING Direct bank account from my Royal Bank of Canada savings account before the deadline in < 4 hours.

The problem is that the money I wish to use was deposited into my Royal Bank account on February 25th, and they have a "5 business day" holding period.

It's been barely more than 5 days, but has it been 5 business days?
The bank is open on the weekend, but something tells me that isn't their definition of a business day. Is it?

posted by Sonic_Molson to work & money (6 comments total)

You should probably listen to "Something tells me": Business Day
posted by rmhsinc at 5:35 PM on March 2

AFAIK business day = weekday - holidays. That's the way it's always been for me. I bank at TD, though.
posted by wsp at 5:36 PM on March 2

Wait, why can't you simply try to transfer the funds and see if it gets rejected?
posted by gman at 5:52 PM on March 2

Or call the bank and ask what your available balance is and whether such a transfer would go through yet?
posted by zachlipton at 6:07 PM on March 2

Wait, why can't you simply try to transfer the funds and see if it gets rejected?

Last time I did this too early, I got $40 NSF charge at Royal Bank and the brokerage I was transferring to. I'm trying not to do that again, but really, how hard would it be for the online banking to indicate when a cheque has cleared.

Or call the bank and ask what your available balance is and whether such a transfer would go through yet?

I'll see if it's not too late to do that.
posted by Sonic_Molson at 7:27 PM on March 2

RBC gives me a mesasge of: Transaction Failed: Funds available in 'From' account are $xxxx when I attempt to do this. One thing though, won't you have to do an Interac Email Transfer to get it between accounts tonight? And even then, it most likely won't arrive in time.
posted by gman at 7:48 PM on March 2