ENGLISH
REFERENCE

NSF

n. uncountable
C1 Advanced nsf

n. Stands for Not Sufficient Funds. A message from a bank that says there is not enough money in an account to pay for a check or a purchase.

n. Abbreviation for Not Sufficient Funds. A banking status indicating that a checking account does not have enough available balance to cover a presented check or electronic debit.


SIMPLE

The bank returned the check because of NSF.

CONTEXTUAL

I had to pay a thirty-dollar fee to the store after my payment was declined for NSF.

COMPLEX

Automated clearing house transactions may be retried up to two times following an initial NSF notification before the merchant must seek an alternative method of payment from the customer.

Usage

Commonly used as a noun adjunct in phrases like 'NSF fee' or 'NSF check'.

Pitfall

I have an NSF in my accountI have an NSF fee on my accountNSF describes the status of the funds, not the account itself; learners often use it to mean the penalty fee.

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