Because you have spent the money. The cycles of deposits and withdrawals from the actual bank aren't instant. Your available balance is the amount left after you consider all deposits and debits to that point that have been submitted.
Check deposits: When you deposit a check into your account, some or all of the funds from the check might not be incorporated into your available balance until the check clears — which usually takes about two business days.
Your bank may hold the funds according to its funds availability policy. Or it may have placed an exception hold on the deposit. If the bank has placed a hold on the deposit, the bank generally should provide you with written notice of the hold.
Here are some common reasons the available and current balance are different: You made a debit card purchase that hasn't been fully processed by your bank. You wrote or deposited a check that hasn't cleared yet. You have an upcoming automatic payment that you pre-authorized for a recurring bill.
If you've made recent purchases with your debit card, but the financial institution hasn't fully processed the transaction, the current balance will be higher than the available balance. This is also the case if you have written a check that has not yet cleared.
Uncollected funds are the unavailable portion of a bank deposit that is in the process of being cleared by the bank. The period of time that funds remain unavailable allows banks to ensure that a deposit by check has been verified and the correct amount of money has been received, or collected.
Bank Mix-Ups
Occasionally, your deposit may not show up as planned because of a mix-up with the bank. You can look out for this by monitoring your account daily. When you deposit into your account, it should show up in your account history, even if the funds are not immediately available to you.
Two business days. That's the average amount of time it takes before the money you dropped into your checking account is actually available to you. But that's just the average—depending on the type of deposit you make, you could access your money immediately, or you may have to wait longer than just two days.
Failure to Release Funds
If the bank will not release funds that are legally yours, you might have a valid legal claim.
Pending transactions can happen when the money needed for the transaction is still moving between accounts, like after using your credit, ATM or debit card to purchase gas at the pump, get cash or add a tip at a restaurant. In a bank account, pending transactions include: Cash, check and direct deposits.
'Balance' is the amount of money in your account before all pending transactions have been processed. 'Available' is the amount that will be available after any pending transactions have been processed and is a more accurate reflection of how much you can spend at that time.
If an issuing bank has not cleared a check deposit, for example, the funds will not be available to the account holder, even though they may show up in the account's current balance.
Your total and available balances may vary if your account has pending check deposits, debit card purchases and ATM transactions that haven't cleared the account yet.
Can I spend the money that's being held for a pending transaction? No, the funds are temporarily unavailable until the transaction clears. Spending them could result in overdrafts or declined transactions.
Generally, a bank must make the first $225 from the deposit available—for either cash withdrawal or check writing purposes—at the start of the next business day after the banking day that the deposit is made. The rest of the deposit should generally be available on the second business day.
As a result, most bank transfers are instantaneous, although in some cases, payment can take up to two hours. It's important to remember that while Faster Payments aims to provide you with these types of bank transfer times, there's no guarantee that your payment will be cleared on the same day.
A depositary bank may delay making the funds from a check available if the check had previously been deposited and returned unpaid. The exception does not apply to checks that were previously returned unpaid because of a missing indorsement or because the check was postdated when presented.
When figuring out how to remove a hold on a bank account, you can often contact your bank and find out what caused the hold. If it was a pre-authorization hold placed by a merchant on a debit card transaction, you might be able to contact them directly and have them remove it.
It is because of a hold period while the bank confirms the transaction, a deposit may appear in your bank account but not be accessible.
Common reasons for placing a hold on a check or deposit include but are not limited to: Accounts with frequent overdrafts. New customer. High-dollar deposits that exceed the total available balance in the account.
Difference Between Current Balance and Available Balance
Available balance is how much money you are able to spend right now, including any pending transactions. Meanwhile, the current balance shows how much money is in your account without subtracting pending payments or withdrawals.
If your direct deposit hasn't hit in one to three days, check with your bank. It could be that there is a hold on your account or your account is new or overdrawn, or that the sum is large enough to warrant additional review.
The receiving bank is still processing the money
But some banks are slower than others — they might take up to 1 working day for them to release the money. So your money's safely on its way, but the recipient bank is still processing it.
Available balance is the most current record we have about the funds that are available for your use or withdrawal. It includes all deposits and withdrawals that have been posted to your account, then adjusts for any holds on recent deposits and any pending transactions that are known to the Bank.