Current balance
The total of every transaction on a bank account that has fully settled — sometimes called the ledger balance. It ignores pending activity.
The current balance — also called the ledger balance — is the settled total in an account. Every transaction it includes has finished processing: the money has moved, the record is final, and the bank considers the entry closed.
Because settlement can take a day or two, the current balance often lags reality. A card charge tapped this morning may not appear in it until tomorrow, even though the money is effectively reserved. That is why the current balance and the available balance disagree.
For record-keeping and reconciliation, current is the honest historical number: everything it shows has happened. For deciding whether to make the next purchase, available is closer to the truth, because it also subtracts what the bank knows is coming. Neither number is wrong — they answer two different questions, and most days the second question is the one being asked.
Plumb is financial education, not financial, investment, tax, or legal advice.