One in four cash machines charges customers
Concerns for elderly as banks shut 75 free-to-use ATMS a month
ONE quarter of Scotland’s cash machines are now charging customers to withdraw their money, with the number shooting up by 68 per cent in just 12 months.
New figures from the UK’S largest cash machine network show that there are now 1,396 pay-to-use ATMS in Scotland – 565 more than this time last year.
It has led to fresh demands for action to preserve the nation’s access to cash, as bank branches vanish.
It comes as thousands of Bank of Scotland, Halifax and Lloyds customers were left without access to their accounts yesterday after the group’s online banking websites crashed for several hours.
Customers of the Lloyds Group, which has more than 13 million active online customers, began complaining about being unable to access the banks’ websites and smartphone apps from around 4am on New Year’s Day.
In the past four months alone, nearly 300 free cash machines have been lost to Scotland – at a rate of 75 a month.
On top of that new LINK data shows that the rate of loss of free-touse cash machines in Scotland has risen to 14 every week in the past year. That’s up from one in 10 in the year to July. The Herald revealed stark warnings in May from the
ATM Industry Association that nearly one in five of Scotland’s free to use cash machines were expected to introduce charges to customers in the following 12 months.
It comes after banks have cut the fees paid to ATM operators when a customer uses a free cashpoint, causing many to switch to paid-for models.
The shock figures emerged less than a fortnight after Adrian
Roberts, LINK’S chief commercial officer, told MSPS: “It is absolutely not acceptable for people to have to pay to access their own cash.”
The falling number of cashpoints is seen as a concern for elderly or vulnerable bank customers who do not use online banking, and for small businesses who rely on access to cash.
Scotland has already seen more than 400 bank branches close since 2015, making it one of the worst affected areas in the UK, and often the cashpoints will also go.
Banks who have made the cuts consistently say that it is the result of customers preferring to use online, mobile or telephone banking while usage of branches has fallen.
Consumer group Which? said the new figures showed how the UK
Government should step in to protect people’s access to cash.
Jenny Ross, Which? Money Editor, warned “countless” Scottish communities are being stripped of free access to cash in a move that will hit the vulnerable hardest.
She said: “Mismanagement by the industry and regulators has led to a massive spike in fee-charging machines, while rampant bank branch and cashpoint closures are stripping people of vital cash access and have left the cash landscape on the brink of collapse.
“The UK’S new government should seize the opportunity to act now and introduce legislation that protects this important payment method for as long as it is needed.”
Last month, the Herald revealed ministers had refused to intervene in the access-to-cash crisis.
A UK Government response said: “Government cannot reverse the changes in the market and in customer behaviour, nor can it determine firms’ commercial strategies in response to those changes.
“However, the Government will continue to work with the sector to maintain access to vital banking services and ensure that banks support communities across the UK when their local branches close.”
The Access to Cash Review, chaired by Natalie Ceeney CBE, concluded in March that digital payments did not yet work for everyone and around eight million adults – 17% of the population – would struggle to cope in a cashless society.
It also found that cash is only used for three in every ten transactions, down from six in ten a decade ago and is forecast to fall to as low as one in ten transactions within the next 15 years. It concluded the shift away from cash towards digital payments is placing significant strain on the UK’S cash infrastructure.
A Bank of Scotland spokeswoman said of the latest online issues: “We’re aware that some of our customers are experiencing problems logging on to Online Banking. We’re working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, and apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
In October, MPS condemned the level of IT failures at banks, saying in a Treasury Committee report that the frequency of online banking crashes and customer disruption was “unacceptable”.