BANKS SCRAP ATM FEES
IN a multimillion-dollar windfall for consumers, all Big Four banks have axed ATM fees for customers of other banks.
Commonwealth Bank was the first of the major lenders to announce it was ditching the $2 ATM fee for non-customers.
The decision was the catalyst for Westpac, then ANZ and NAB to announce yesterday they would remove ATM fees.
Australians paid about $500 million in fees in the past year for withdrawals from ATMs owned by institutions other than their own, analysis has revealed.
JOSCA Van Kempen can’t comprehend the big banks are ditching the dreaded “foreign ATM” fee.
Not due to shock but because she can’t believe such a charge even existed in the first place.
“That’s weird,” the 23year-old Dutchwoman said after learning Australian banks have been charging non-customers a fee for using their ATMs for longer than any of us care to remember.
“You wouldn’t get charged like that in the Netherlands. (All the ATMs) are free if you’re Dutch.”
That will once again soon be the case for thousands of little Aussie battlers after the Commonwealth Bank yesterday prompted a chain reaction that will likely see the demise of the most hated of all bank charges.
The Commonwealth Bank’s decision to immediately make its 3400 ATMs fee-free for any user prompted Westpac to declare that in coming weeks it would also dump the $2 charge across its network of almost 3000 machines.
Not to be outdone, ANZ announced it would remove the fee early next month for non-ANZ customers using any of its 2300 machines. National Australia Bank was the last to jump on-board late yesterday.
It is estimated the death knell of the fee will be a $500million-a-year win for consumers – and save at least one Ashmore man a few headaches when it comes to replenishing his wallet.
“I’ve actually gone out of my way to come here today to avoid paying the fee,” Jamie Thomson said as he used a Commonwealth hole in the wall in Southport’s Scarborough St.
“It would have been far easier for me to stop elsewhere but I’ve actually double-parked and scooted down here to avoid paying the $2 the others would have charged me.”
Nothing like risking a $70 parking fine to save two bucks, hey?
“True,” laughed.
“But I hate the banks. Most people probably don’t Mr Thomson make the effort and I’m even guilty of (just paying the fee) when I’m in a hurry, but you add up the charges over the course of a year and …
“Actually, you probably don’t want to add it.”
As Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison and consumer group Choice applauded the decision, the big banks lined up for a pat on the back for their generosity.
Westpac’s George Frazis said the bank wanted all Australians to use its ATMs without being stung. ANZ’s Fred Ohlsson claimed it was “another example of acting on customer feedback”.
Back at Southport, Mr Thomson grinned at the PR spin.
“If I was with another bank, maybe this would plant the seed for me to think the Commonwealth are nice people,” he said of a bank that has endured its fair share of negative publicity in recent times.
“People might think they really are there for them – even though we know they’re not.”
And that’s a sentiment Ms Van Kempen is happy to endorse.
“Our banks don’t take these kinds of fees but they certainly take others,” Josca said. “It’s not like they’re wonderful but I think that’s the case everywhere around the world, isn’t it?”
IF I WAS WITH ANOTHER BANK, MAYBE THIS WOULD PLANT THE SEED FOR ME TO THINK THE COMMONWEALTH ARE NICE PEOPLE