THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 11, 1994 TAG: 9406110001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: George Hebert
DATELINE: 940611 LENGTH: Medium
For one thing, I remembered when I first started using an ATM, and was observed by an associate at the paper who hadn't yet succumbed to this wondrous new fiscal gadgetry. He commented with feigned amazement about how he'd watched me ``pull money out of a wall.''
{REST} There was also the first time, a bit latter, that I encountered the withdrawal fee for using the equipment. It was a small amount, but my reaction was negative. I hadn't heard anyone else complaining, but it struck me as odd that a service once offered as an inducement to depositors should become an extra cost to customers. I also found it strange that a depositor should have to pay to take out some of his own money from an account.
Well, my irritation has eased since then. For one thing, I know I didn't have to continue the service if I didn't think it worth the price. And banks' ATM-fee schedules now vary quite a bit, giving potential customers choices. Anyhow, as the competition has shaken out, at least in this region, many banks don't exact any charge at all nowadays from their own depositors when the latter use the banks' own machines. I found this out with a few phone calls to customer-service departments in the area.
In the national controversy, the consumer-group protest seems to embrace all ATM withdrawal fees, but especially those pretty widely charged (hereabouts, too) by a bank when a customer uses equipment not operated by that bank. Charges from 25 cents to $3 for such transactions have been mentioned, though I came across none locally as high as that $3.
The issue, then: Are ATM charges, in the aggregate, excessive - too much of a winner for the banks imposing them? Or a loser for the institutions?
I heard at least one national bank spokesman state flatly, in a TV interview, that the banks were losing money on the service. And against the argument that customers shouldn't be paying for self-service, he cited at least one very important extra that subscribers were getting: Around-the-clock access to their funds.
That's certainly a strong point. And while some of those higher fees may call for a closer look, the idea of paying some appropriate amount for the convenience of the full-time mechanical tellers hardly seems unreasonable.
If your account has enough in it, pulling money from a wall - at will - is a pretty good deal.
by CNB