Consumers being charged $5 to use ATM, Payments Consulting Network study reveals

JOHN ROLFE
JULY 21, 2014
NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA
CONSUMERS are being slugged $5 to withdraw cash and $3.50 to check their balance in the great ATM fee-for-all.
Incredibly, these might not even be the biggest charges. Other data indicates fees of as much as $10 are being imposed.
The $5 cash machine fee has emerged from a confidential study for the industry, obtained by News Corp. The study, by Payments Consulting Network, surveys nearly 27,000 ATMs across the country.
The locations of the ATMs charging $5 are not revealed in the study and the authors refused to comment. It is known that the ATMs are not operated by any bank. They are run by independent deployers.
Independents’ ATMs are most commonly found in pubs and service stations. The $3.50 balance inquiry charge was also levied by an independent.
“ATM fees are way out of proportion to the cost of providing the service, especially charging consumers for simply checking their bank balance,” said Matt Levey, head of campaigns at consumer group Choice.
Data from another source suggests ATM fees could be as high as $10, although News Corp has been unable to locate the offending cash machine. The data shows the actual charges imposed on hundreds of thousands of Australians, revealing scores of ATMs are imposing fees of at least $4.
The standard fee to use the largest network of independent ATMs was increased to $2.80 from $2.50 last year. A rival operator yesterday told News Corp it plans to follow suit in a matter of months.
The scale of fees — and northward trend — are further evidence of the failure of reforms introduced by the Reserve Bank of Australia.
Five years ago the RBA brought in a “direct charge” model it said would “lower the cost of ATM services”. But that hasn’t happened.
The majority of ATM operators on its watchlist are now extracting up to 67 per cent extra. None has cut fees.
Choice, the Consumer Action Law Centre and the Australia Institute have all called for an investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission or the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
A national Galaxy Research poll released last week found so-called “foreign” ATM charges are the most hated finance fee. The research was produced for ING, which has announced it will pay ATM fees imposed on its customers by cash machine operators.
In the year to the end of April, Australians paid $627 million in foreign ATM fees. A foreign ATM is any machine not operated by a consumer’s card issuer.