Need cash but miles away from the closest ATM belonging to your bank? Unfortunately, using another bank’s ATM is going to cost you more than usual. The cost of fees charged to non-customers by banks for using their ATMs increased by 20% from 2007 to 2012. Some banks are charging fees as high as $5. Using an outside bank’s ATM also involves a fee charged by one’s personal bank as a penalty for using a competing bank’s services. Luckily, this fee has not increased as significantly, only very slightly.
The increase in ATM fees could potentially cost individuals hundreds of dollars this year. Fees don’t appear likely to come back down anytime soon either. Banks are still seeking revenue to make up for losses brought on by recent regulations like the CARD Act and the Dodd-Frank Bills, according to Bill Hardekopf, CEO of LowCards.com. Hardekopf anticipates an increase in the use of ATMs due to the high number of people using prepaid cards to withdraw cash from ATMs. He believes that “That increase in demand could lead to higher revenues from ATMs and possibly a higher fee to use the ATM.”
Do you expect that you will be impacted financially by the increase in ATM fees? If so, how do you plan on dealing with this issue?
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