In my opinion US Bank does not clearly disclose the working of their online system. This is kind of a long read but, be forewarned, I have personally experienced all of these scenarios with US Bank (figures and dates changed for readability). If the examples seem confusing, welcome to the club.
I found out the hard way (read expensive way) that when a charge is taken on a debit card it sets the money aside in the account until the money actually transfers. All good except the money that is now no longer available is released if the charge doesn't process through after a few business days (I believe it's three days).
I initially believed the online service was 100% up to date and used it as a ledger but when old charges that I had forgotten about (and so had the online system) suddenly reappeared days later I had a handful of overdrafts. Expensive lesson, but I dealt with it. Unfortunately, my education wasn't yet over.
One thing I did learn was that if you charge on your debit card and the money is made not available (money has not transferred; just made unavailable), if there is not enough funds in the account you're fine provided you get the funds in before the transfer occurs; unless, you had smaller transactions on the same business day that it posted.
The good news is transactions larger than the debit card purchase that hasn't fully cleared in this scenario won't cause an overdraft; just smaller ones; unless they happen on a following day. Got it? No? Shaking your head like the AFFLAC duck. OK, I'll to make this simple. It works like this:
Example 1:
Account balance $1000
Charge #1 goes through at 9:00am for $300 (available $700;account balance $700)
Charge #2 goes through at 10:00am for $300 (available $400;account balance $400)
You use the debit card at 11:00am for $401 which now becomes unavailable although funds are still in the account as the $401 has not yet transferred (it will transfer in two days) (available -$1;account balance $400)
You deposit enough funds to cover the shortage the second day before the $401 leaves the account.
US Bank, at the end of the initial business day will make the $401 unavailable before processing the Charges #1 and #2 even though these charges came earlier in the day and the $401 hadn't actually left the account. You will get two overdraft fees.
Example 2 (almost the same but you don't get hit for fees):
Account balance $1000
Charge #1 goes through at 9:00am for $400 (available $600;account balance $600)
Charge #2 goes through at 10:00am for $400 (available $200;account balance $200)
You use the debit card at 11:00am for $399 which now becomes unavailable although funds are still in the account as the $399 has not yet transferred (it will transfer in two days). (available -$199;account balance $200)
You deposit enough funds the second day to cover the shortage before the $399 leaves the account.
At the end of the initial business day US Bank will process Charges #1 and #2 first leaving only $200 in the account. The money reserved from the debit card transaction will then be calculated to show a negative availability but still a positive balance (remember, the money hasn't left the account yet) but you will not receive any overdraft fees.
Now if this seems stupid look at this example:
Example 3
Account Balance $1000 10/1
On 10/1 you make a $1 debit card purchase - you now have $999 available $1000 balance.
On 10/2 you make a $1 debit card purchase - you now have $998 available $1000 balance.
On 10/3 you make a $1000 debit card purchase - you now have -$2 available and $1000 balance (no money has yet transferred).
On 10/4 the two initial $1 purchases process through.
That night US Bank first credits the $2 unavailable funds from the purchases on 10/1 and 10/2 changing the available funds from -$2 to $0 (remember, you charged $1000 the previous day and trashed the available funds). The charges are now assessed and an overdraft situation occurs for both $1 charges as you have insufficient available funds. So, even though the money was "set aside" on 10/1 and 10/2 to cover the charges, you still have multiple overdrafts.
And finally, If you deposit your paycheck Friday morning and go out Friday night spending more than $100 (I can't do that anymore because I'm too poor from all the overdraft fees) you will generate one or more overdraft fees because $100 of your paycheck is credited immediately but the rest doesn't post until the next day. Any charges you incur that evening out are processed against your account first before they credit your paycheck deposit. On business accounts they don't do this (deposits go first then they process the debits); only on personal accounts.
I'm still learning and I haven't quite mastered the system but I'm getting there. If I made any errors please feel free to correct me (US Bank does it all the time). I used to be a securities broker for a major Wall Street firm, owned my own REMAX franchise and owned and operated my own mortgage company. With my financial background and perseverance I know I can get this. Maybe when I get it down I can become a customer disservice rep for US Bank. Wait, all I have to learn is to say "NO".
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