Britons will be paying £300m to withdraw their own cash from ATM’s by 2007 |
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Thu, 19 May 2005 22:00
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The Association for Payment Clearing Services (Apacs) is predicting that by 2007 almost all cash withdrawals from ATM's will be charged. “If the growth in the fee- charging market continues there could be more fee-charging machines than free machines within three years,” an Apacs spokesman said.
Currently some 21,300 machines in the UK charge some fees for cash withdrawals. This is an astounding 41 percent of the total 51,982 machines in the country. Nationwide Building Society says that this number is set to rise upto 57 percent by 2007.
Rosemary Calendar, a spokeswoman for Nationwide Building Society, says, "By the end of 2006 we predict the number of fee-charging machines will overtake free machines. By 2007 people will be paying £300m to withdraw their own cash. We are going the way of the United States where 40% of withdrawals are charged for."
| Mike Naylor, principal researcher at Which?, a consumer watchdog, said, “We are concerned that the massive growth in charging ATMs threatens people’s right to get hold of their money for free.” He points out that banks have ceased operating in poorer areas leaving them without access to their bank's ATM.
Apacs says that 4 out of 10 ATM machines in the UK are operated by independent organizations, almost all of which charge for withdrawals. Such independently operated machines rose to 21,683 during 2004 up from around 14,436 during the previous year. Apacs also said that it found that only one in twenty cash withdrawals incurred a fee.
Jemma Smith, Apacs spokeswoman, said, "This shows that people are going to free machines operated by banks and building societies over fee-charging machines. The spread of fee-charging machines is about consumer choice. It is worth remembering there are a greater number of free to use cash machines than ever before."
This news will be of interest to the Treasury select committee, which had published a report in March calling for more stringent regulation of the Link network. The report had also said that independent operators of ATM's should be brought under the same regulatory policy as that of the banks.
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