The 12 February 2016 military pay date is very early, which is a nice bonus, but it will mean longer pay periods at the end of the month. Plan carefully!
Regular, active duty military paydays are on the 15th and 1st of each month, unless those days fall on a weekend or a holiday. Because 15 February 2016 is on the president's day holiday, the payday slides back to the last business day prior to the holiday and weekend: 12 February 2016 is the actual military payday for mid-month February pay. That's just 11 days after the last payday on 1 February 2016, but there will be 18 days until the next military payday on 1 March 2016. (Thank goodness February is a short month!)
Of course, all these dates are shifted if you use a bank or credit union that offers early direct deposit of military pay. When should you expect to see your 12 February 2016 military pay deposit? That depends...
USAA and other "one business day" early banks
Many financial institutions deposit military pay one business day early as a courtesy to their customers. This includes USAA, Pacific Marine Credit Union (PMCU), and others. For this pay period, one business day early will be Thursday, 11 February 2016.
Service Credit Union
Service Credit Union generally deposits military pay two business day prior to the actual military payday, pending the receipt of the deposit information from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS.) For this payday, two business days early would be Wednesday, 10 February 2016.
Navy Federal Credit Union
Navy Federal Credit Union (NFCU) deposits military pay on two different days, depending on which type of bank account you use for your pay deposits.
NFCU members who use an Active Duty Checking account will have their pay posted overnight on Wednesday, 10 February 2016, to be available for use on Thursday, 11 February 2016. It will often show as "pending" prior to the deposit date.
NFCU members who use any other type of checking account will have their pay posted overnight on Thursday, 11 February 2016, to be available for use on Friday, 12 February 2016. It will often show as "pending" prior to the deposit date.
As I said in the introduction, this has the potential to be a long pay period, depending on the deposit practices of your bank. Be sure to plan your spending so you don't run out of money before you run out of month.
