The rise of fee-charging ATMs

Why should we have to pay to access our own bank account? It's one of those questions that many readers are increasingly asking as fee-charging ATMs become more and more common.

I had an interesting lunch with two very nice chaps from Link today - they're the company that operate the whole ATM system in Britain. The biggest concern I have with fee-charging ATMs is that there are loads of small towns in Britain who have had their local bank branch close - and subsequently lost the free ATM provided by the bank. It means they have no option but to pay to access their cash. And often these areas have high levels of unemployment and reliance on benefits - so the people who can least afford charges are affected the most.

I asked them whether they had the power to pressure banks to keep their free ATMs in small towns and villages, but they said that as they represent all ATM providers - banks, building societies and independent fee-charging operators - they couldn't. It struck me during this conversation how ridiculous it is that banks which earn billions of pounds in profits (the latest announcement was from Royal Bank of Scotland) every year don't have some sort of social obligation to ensure that everyone can access their account for free.

The relative cost to each bank of providing an ATM to small communities would be negligible. I'd encourage you all to take part in the survey being conducted by the Citizens Advice Bureau so that you can have your say on fee-charging ATMs.

I'd also like to conduct my own unofficial survey of readers to find out how far some of you you have to go to reach your nearest free ATM. Let me know by posting a comment below, to shed some light on how much of a problem this really is.

Cheers,
- Sascha, This is Money

Comments

[georgethe23rd]

Walking distance, but I'd have to pay for walking distance if I lived in adjoining villages.

[MarkyMarkD]

"Why should we have to pay to access our own bank account?"

The same reason we have to pay for any other goods or services we purchase.

"It struck me during this conversation how ridiculous it is that banks which earn billions of pounds in profits ... don't have some sort of social obligation to ensure that everyone can access their account for free."

Why doesn't it strike you as ridiculous that Tesco, which makes millions of pounds in profits, doesn't have some sort of social obligation to allow everyone free food?

Because that's the SAME THING! Banks exist to make money for their shareholders, just as Tesco do. There's no moral right to free banking - if you don't want to pay for banking services, keep your money under the mattress if that's how you feel.

Unemployed people, or those on benefits, can use post office counters for free if they bank with most banks - and if they bank with one which doesn't provide this service, they can easily switch to one which does. The argument that these are the people who lose out by "having" to use charging ATMs doesn't hold water.

[Sascha]

Thanks for your thoughts on this.
You're quite right of course that banks are there to make money for their shareholders, but I disagree with your comments about people receiving benefits.
Many small towns have lost their local post office branch and more often people are having their benefits paid into a bank account, rather than accessing their money over post office counters. (You can find post office news at www.thisismoney.co.uk/postoffice if you'd like to read our coverage.)
I think a decent society should help them out a bit and provide free access to this money, rather than forcing them to pay £1.50 each time they use an ATM, because very often they won't have a choice. A few ATMs for underprivileged towns would be a drop in the ocean of HSBC's £11bn profit, especially when HSBC has the use of this money to invest and build their profits.
Cheers, Sascha

[E Franklin]

Another rip off by the banks. I purchased my holiday money from the post office commision free using my barclays connect card,when i later checked my account to my amazement found that barclays i had charged me £4.50 for using my own money, when i complained they said that was there usual practice. Needless to say I'm changing my account to the nationwide
E freanklin

[Ade]

And the 'free food' analogy doesn't hold water either. We don't give supermarkets food so they can make money with it, and then charge us to have it back.

[Paul Roberts]

E Franklin, why didn't you withdraw the cash from your Connect card over the counter at the Post Office, then buy the currency with it?
That's what I did - the guy behind the counter even warned me that Barclays would charge me, but that he could let me have the cash for free if I withdrew it over the counter.

The Post Office seem to be coming up with some pretty good deals at the moment (check out their credit card), such a shame they are being closed down out in the sticks.

[Mark]

Good point about social responsibility, I suppose if the Banks agreed to supply at least one free cash machine between them in every community that has ever had a bank it would solve some issues.

However, i was in a town the other week and saw people withdrawing cash from a fee paying machine at a newsagents, and was dumbfounded to see that on the other side of the road there were 3 high street banks supplying the same service free of charge! It wasn't even a busy road and you could of reached the other three machines in less than a minute! Some people!

Also, I have noticed lots of free cash machines opening in various locations in my area recently, supermarkets, petrol stations, shopping centres, so I assume the Banks are putting these in places where they are likely to be used, as opposed to having them in places where they are rarely used?