Before you use an ATM that does not belong to your US based bank, you may want to consider what that transaction is going to cost you. The recent increase by some of the nation’s largest banks will make the $5 transaction fee for noncustomers a reality.
ATMs have become a part of everyday life. The downturn in the economy has turned the world from the freewheeling charging style of a few years ago into a cash economy. Banks are hurting from the change. To recover some of the money that used to come in from interest on credit card balances and overdraft fees that are now regulated, many banks have taken to raising their fees for other services, using ATMS is one of them. Not all banks have followed the trend of raising fees for their customers and for anyone else using their machines. Here are a few whose machines are the most friendly when it comes to using their ATMs, at least for today.
Residents of Connecticut are among the luckiest in the nation. Liberty Bank offers its ATM’s free to its customers and it also reimburses fees that are paid at other banks. The credit will show up in the account on the next month’s statement. There are other banks that have had to reconsider this policy. Non-customers will have to pay a fee to use their ATMs.
Citi Bank offers fee free ATM transactions at its own and other machines as long as certain criteria are met. For fee free use of Citi Bank ATMs the minimum account balance is $100, for free ATM use on all ATMS it is $6000.
Ally Bank is a part of the growing trend in online banks. They have no brick and mortar buildings, you deal with them online. This also means that they have none of their own ATMs, they rely on other banks ATM networks. They compensate their customers for this by refunding the fees that other banks charge.
It is getting harder and harder to find a bank that has a fee free policy when it comes to other banks ATMS. There are a few things that the average customer can do to avoid the high fees. Never use another banks ATM unless it is absolutely necessary. While the fees at JP Morgan Chase for non-customers are high, opening an account with their bank will solve that problem. They have the largest network of ATMs in the United States. It becomes a case of “if you can’t beat them, join them.”