Why isnt all my money available?

[Chaicho]

I made a check deposit to my bank account and only a portion of the money appeared as "Available Balance". I thought It was because I made the deposit on a Saturday and had to wait until the next business day.

What does the Available Balance mean?  

[Drak3]

It means there is a transaction pending.

If you deposit a check, it takes a bit of time to verify the amount and credentials between accounts and financial institutions (most can do it in a few hours, some can credit the account immediately, and some might take a day or two).

If you use a Debit/Check card, outgoing transactions do not actually go through immediately, to verify spending habits and alert you if the purchase is excessively out of the norm. Some banks will only report the available balance, others will provide total balance (before a series of pending transactions) and the available balance. Typically, the next day (or business day, depending on the bank or credit union), all pending transactions will be made and the available balance becomes the total balance.

[AshleyAshes]

In short, the bank is sitting on the money to see if the cheque bounces or not.