Don’t use debit cards. Unless you have no/bad credit, use a credit card. If you can’t control it, get in the habit of paying it off monthly or get a charge card where you have no choice but to pay it off monthly.

I would much rather be in the situation where the credit card company was saying I owed them money than having to tell the bank that they owed me money.

$8 in Idaho could’ve just been a check to see if the charge would go through, validating their process.