what is a demand account 
a demand account is a checking account it s a place to stash your cash until you demand it whether you do that by withdrawing money from an atm or paying a bill online in the financial world money in a checking account is the equivalent of cash it can be withdrawn by the account holder at will by contrast if you put your cash in a six month certificate of deposit cd you can withdraw it in an emergency but you ll probably pay a penalty for breaking the agreement you ll get zero interest on a demand account you ll get interest on a cd can i use the available balance in my checking account your available balance is the amount that your bank currently authorizes you to use or withdraw in these days of electronic transactions it should be up to the minute be careful though if you used a paper check yesterday it may not have passed through the bank yet or if you know you ll need 200 tomorrow and your bank doesn t know that leave at least 200 in your available balance also keep an eye on any automated payments you have scheduled if your utility payment is going through tomorrow morning you want to make sure your balance is adequate the bottom linein a checking account the available balance is the amount of money that the account holder can withdraw immediately the current balance by contrast includes any pending transactions that have not yet been cleared the bank will honor any withdrawal or payment you make up to the available balance amount be careful though that you don t use money that you have earmarked elsewhere if you have an automated payment going through from the cable company tomorrow your account won t reflect that today 