Can you use your debit card with no money in account?

Answer 1

It depends on the details and the bank's policy.

Some banks will allow an account to go temporarily negative (up to some limit, usually around $1000). Checks and other debits to the account up to that limit will be honored, but the account holder is charged a fee (usually $30-40 for each transaction).

It's most typical for attempts to use a debit card for more than the balance remaning in the account to be declined at the time of purchase, but due to the fact that banks typically post all transactions once a day in the evenings (and not at all on weekends), if you had $10 in your account Friday evening you could potentially make several purchases, none of which individually was more than $10, over the weekend and not have the bank "realize" that you were overdrawn until the Monday evening transaction posting. If you make a deposit Monday before the transactions post, you may be able to avoid the NSF fee.

Also, some banks offer automatic balance transfers. If you've got $1000 in your savings account and your checking account is empty, they may allow you to use a debit card linked to the checking account anyway and just take the money from your savings account instead.

In general, though, you should expect that your debit card will not go through if there's no money in the account unless your bank has specifically told you otherwise.