When I was a kid, I had a joint bank account with one of my parents. When I was around 16 I was able to get a "Check card", which behaved like a debit card in that I couldn't spend more money within was in the account, but it looked like a Visa card to anyone who was processing it. I recall being pleasantly surprised when I learned that I could use that card to "prove" I was over 18.
> When I was around 16 I was able to get a "Check card", which behaved like a debit card in that I couldn't spend more money within was in the account Not relevant to the conversation at hand, and perhaps this is US only, but using a debit card you can absolutely spend more than you have. Sometimes banks won’t remove the funds until the actual transaction posts. Most shops won’t post the transactions until evening. S…
My balance went negative, and I was charged an overdraft fee. Reading the fine print on my account, it said that charges would go through on an overdrawn account until a certain dollar amount, at which point the debit card transactions would fail.
Now reading what I just wrote... It does seem like it would be very much specific to each bank.