What happens when someone overdrafts their account?

When someone overdrafts their account, they essentially withdraw more money than is available in their checking account, leading to a negative balance. In most banking systems, this triggers additional fees known as overdraft fees. These fees are charged by the bank as a penalty for the overdraft transaction and can vary in amount but are typically a set fee per transaction that exceeds the available balance.

In contrast to the correct choice, rejecting the payment would mean the transaction never goes through, and usually, overdrafts allow transactions to proceed despite insufficient funds. The second option of deducting a sufficient balance does not apply, as the balance is insufficient to cover the transaction, and no adequate funds are available to deduct. As for the account being automatically closed, this generally only happens after repeated or severe overdrafts and is not an automatic outcome of a single overdraft event. Therefore, the most accurate consequence of overdrafting an account is incurring additional fees.