To determine whether you have enough money in your Account to cover a transaction, we use your Account’s available balance which is based upon the deposits and withdrawals to your Account and all pending electronic transactions, including pre-authorized transfers, point of sale transactions, and merchant payment authorizations, regardless of whether they have posted to your Account.
For example, assume your actual and available balance are both $50, and you swipe your debit card at a restaurant for $20. A hold is placed on your Account, so your available balance is only $30. Your actual balance is still $50. Before the restaurant charge is sent to us for processing, a check that you wrote for $40 clears. Because you have only $30 available (you have committed to pay the restaurant $20), your Account will be overdrawn by $10, even though your actual balance is $50. In this case, we paid the $40 check. You will be charged an overdraft fee. Instead of paying the $40 check, we could have returned the check and would have charged you a non-sufficient funds fee. The fees (overdraft or non-sufficient funds) will be deducted from your Account, further reducing the balance.