Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) continue to be a place where many people ending up losing a large amount of money. Banks earn more than $2.1 billion annually in ATM surcharge revenue with the average person shelling out $100 a year in ATM fees. While using your own bank ATMs is still free for the most part, each time you use a competing bank's ATM, you'll usually get charged for the transaction by the competing bank. What you may not be aware of is that about 80% of the time, your own bank will also charge you a fee for a transaction at a non affiliated ATM. These fees accumulate quickly making it vitally important to chose a bank with an ATM network that extends to all the places you go.
The first step is to make sure that your bank doesn't charge you to use their own ATMs (believe it or not, some banks do). If they do, it's time to move your business to another bank, or better yet, to
a credit union where all banking fees are usually less.
If you are making ATM withdrawals during business hours, take a walk around the corner and inside the building to do your withdrawal directly with a teller. Here again, you want to make sure that your bank doesn't charge a teller fee, and if they do, again it's time to find yourself another bank.
Another possibility to keep ATM charges to a minimum is to use a new nationwide ATM system for surcharge free ATMs. The system is relatively new, but does have with 25,000 ATMs across the country mostly located in metropolitan areas. They system guarantees that your transaction will be surcharge free or they will refund the money. Go to
Allpoint Network to find where the nearest ones are to you.
If you can't use your own bank's ATMs or the surcharge free ATMs, you're usually better off using an ATM at a competing bank. ATMs located in convenience stores, hotels, casinos, restaurants, and similar type locations usually impose the highest use fees and therefore should be avoided when possible.
Another possible option to reduce ATM charges is to use a debit card while shopping, then ask for cash back. While you could be sure of doing this for free a couple of years back, banks have started to catch on and many have begun to charge a fee for this service. You need to call your bank or check your bank statement to make sure whether or not your bank charges a fee for this type of transaction. If they do, you can always write a check for a certain amount over the purchase price and ask for money back.
You'll almost always be hit with some type of ATM surcharge when traveling outside your local area where your own bank's ATMs likely won't be found. In these cases, plan ahead to use personal checks, travelers checks or credit cards instead of ATMs.
In all instances, if you are going to make a withdrawal, make it for a large amount so that you don't have to come back to another ATM the following day. Since ATMs usually charge a flat fee and not a percentage of the money your are taking out, less trips to an ATM equates to less fees.
Lastly, avoid taking cash advances on credit cards at the ATM. When you add up the bank's charge, the credit card issuer's charge for using the ATM and the interest for the cash advance, it all adds up to a lot of money.
Reducing ATM Fees
