Locks are used in SQL Server for transaction isolation to ensure that transactions do not interfere with each other. If we look at the example above if both Transaction 1 and Transaction 2 were to operate on the same record at the same time, they would both be operating on the initial balance of $500.00. This would lead to inconsistent data, where Transaction 1 would leave $200 in the account and Transaction 2 would leave $100 in the account. The bank would have subtracted $700 from a $500 balance and left $100 in the account. (This specific example is considered a Lost Update.)

To make sure this does not happen in a database, when Transaction 1 initially runs it will place a Lock on the record forcing Transaction 2 to wait until the first Transaction has finished. After Transaction 1 has been completed, the second Transaction would then read that only $200 is actually left in the account. This would then allow the ability to either have the second Transaction print a message that there are insufficient funds and rollback the transaction or continue to process the Transaction which would leave -200 in the account. You can set different locking settings by changing the Transaction Isolation Levels which is set to READ COMMITTED by default.