Can a pending debit charge cause an NSF even if I made a deposit before the item cleared?
This is possible, but it depends on your bank's payment procedures and the timing of the events. If you go to a gas station or hotel, they often will put a larger hold on your account than what you may spend. Say you are spending one night in a hotel at $100 per night. The hotel may ask for approval of $150 (often more) thinking you'll be there two nights, will order room service, pay for parking, etc. If they tell the bank to hold $150, that is what the bank will do.
You then may go into your bank and make a deposit. If that deposit isn't shown in real time, actually posted to your account right then, it won't show as available funds. If the deposit is held to allow it to actually clear as well, you don't have access to the funds. In that case the bank will tell you when the deposit will be available.
In this situation, you have a hold on your account and you just made a deposit, but the deposit hasn't been posted to your account or otherwise been made available. A check is presented for payment. Because of the debit card hold and the deposit not showing, that check may be returned NSF. This is one reason the use of credit cards, not debit cards, is encouraged.
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This is possible, but it depends on your bank's payment procedures and the timing of the events. If you go to a gas station or hotel, they often will put a larger hold on your 