They also like to re-order your pending transactions within a certain time windows to maximize bounce fees.

(If you don't explicitly have overdrafting off, so that it would just fail your transaction instead of letting it go through. The default setting may have changed in the last decade due to law but I remember these scenarios vividly)

$0 balance

+$20

-$1

-$1

-$1

Within a day or two of each other won't necessarily be positive $17 balance.

It could easily become:

$0 balance

-$1 (overdraft fee $40)

-$1 (overdraft fee $40)

-$1 (overdraft fee $40)

+$20

= negative $103 balance

Banks make a lot of money doing this to poor people. The financial class is full of super-predatory behavior.

Can confirm. Had exactly this happen to me years ago when I was a younger man with a much lower income and a much tighter budget. I call it my "how [the bank] stole Christmas" story.

Gaining access to a credit union was one of the best things that ever happened to me.

That’s hilarious in a very sad way.

Same as Australia