MSE News: Free ATMs 'could start charging withdrawal fees' because of row over costs
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I love your optimism, or is that naivety?
Banks will continue to get away with whatever they can, particularly when regulation is so ineffective and many are still run primarily for the employees rather than the shareholders or owners.
It's neither optimism or naivety, cheers. I know for a fact that documentation is held by each of the banks with information about how to unwind the obligations of each one, ready to be passed on should they become insolvent. The PRA has been hopping up and down about getting these in place and the result is that they are.urs sinserly,
~~joosy jeezus~~0 -
JuicyJesus wrote: »It's neither optimism or naivety, cheers. I know for a fact that documentation is held by each of the banks with information about how to unwind the obligations of each one, ready to be passed on should they become insolvent. The PRA has been hopping up and down about getting these in place and the result is that they are.
There may be documentation in place, but will it work?
Regulators haven't a stunning record, that's what I'm getting at, combined with being very good at solving the problem that caused teh last meltdown, the next one will be different, and regulators in financial services will be caught napping again.
Notwithstanding the fact that many banks have been shown to not understand their liabilities in any case, just look at barings and Nick leeson, cdo and cds liabilities within the us before the gfc, unwinding derivatives contracts isn't something I would have any confidence in them doing without requiring government money again.0 -
I'm surprised that about a third of transactions aren't cash withdrawals.
"Other transactions include balance enquiries, PIN changes and rejected transactions."0 -
This
"These machines were offered as a more convenient and cheaper alternative to bank branches allowing the banks to reduce their estate and running costs and they now want to renege on the deal."
The machines allow banks to reduce their overheads by shirnking their estate - a bit like online banking. To then say they were charging for that would also be unpaletable.
Also re paying for current account shis was covered in some detail many times when the issue of bank charges was prominent. Some of the costs is covered by fees, a lot of it is in the interest which people forgoe on money sitting in their current account.
Banking IS NOT free, it just looks that way until you look into it at all. Also the money in your bank account belongs to the bank. A credit in your account is an overdraft in reverse - you agree to loan the money to the bank on the condition that it is repayable on demand.
I would that my credit union offered a current account...Mixed Martial Arts is the greatest sport known to mankind and anyone who says it is 'a bar room brawl' has never trained in it and has no idea what they are talking about.0 -
realaledrinker wrote: »This has been an "issue' for the big banks for well over 10 years. When I was at the Co-op Bank in 2005 or so, they were creaming it as they were massively overrepresented in the ATM space compared to their share of the current account market.
Coop were simply were 'creaming it' due to their large ATM footprint.
As this has been sold off, I doubt this is the case now.
Banks can either invest in ATM themselves or absorb the interchange fees of their customers using third party ATMs. That is why the interchange fee is there, and it's not just a reciprocal setup like larger banks had.
Barclays + Lloyds + RBS + BOS.
Midland + NatWest + TSB + Clydesdale.
I recall all the Scottish banks were also part of LINK and NI banks were part of mix too.0 -
Yes, largely. The big retail banks will just have their retail operating company switched to a new owner overnight or over a weekend. The borrowing is done by other parts of the business. There have been some disputes over which things can go into the retail banking part.There may be documentation in place, but will it work?
The other banking was a right mess to sort out for Lehman Brothers and that caused a lot of trouble because other firms couldn't work out their net positions and found their money tied up in the bankruptcy even though it didn't need to be. That contributed to credit markets freezing. Regulators learned from that and far faster resolution of trading positions is now required. That includes increased use of clearing houses for derivatives trading. One of the jobs of a clearing house is to track net positions so if one firm fails the others know where they stand. Protecting the integrity of settling payments for things is another part of what a clearing house does, in part via collateral holding requirements.0 -
The problem with charging ATMs is that they overwhelmingly proliferate in poorer areas. As a general rule, you're falling over bank ones in the poshest parts of any city, but they become like hen's teeth in council estates.
According to the BBC, for "independent" (non-bank) ATMs the fee is 25p for the cash plus 15p to check your balance, which gets paid to the independent ATM operator. Yet it's common for paid ones to charge £2.50 to make a withdrawal. If ATMs charged 25p (or even slightly more) it wouldn't be so outrageous.
The 15p to check your balance should be abolished. A huge number of independent ones are very aggressive in asking you to make a balance enquiry, which is clearly designed to gain the fee for the operator. Frequently you have to choose "cash only" and then are offered your balance anyway with a yes/no menu, which you have to explicitly reject before you get any cash. This is clearly why so many transactions are not simply cash withdrawals. Frankly 90% of people can check their balance online at any time, and all the major banks have apps too.0 -
[sarcasm]Oh wow I do so feel sorry for the banks[/sarcasm]
We should consider that if a charge is to be levied then all ATMs will need to be updated to provide advance information of the charge to be levied. That should cost a fair bit.
Personally, I avoid ATMs which charge a fee for withdrawals, even more so at the local shop where the charge is £1.50p. I'll just use the ATM at the local branch of my bank and if that branch closed I would switch. But I'm lucky in living in a city where most banks have branches. But those living in smaller towns and villages might not be so lucky.
What remains is what the Post Office are going to do since as far as I know most customers from most banks can withdraw cash.0 -
I went nearly 18 months with a card damaged to the point where ATM's wouldn't accept it (but in store card payment would work), I got by fine only using cashback from supermarkets and debit card transactions wherever I could. I can live with that again.0
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[sarcasm]Oh wow I do so feel sorry for the banks[/sarcasm]
We should consider that if a charge is to be levied then all ATMs will need to be updated to provide advance information of the charge to be levied. That should cost a fair bit.
Am surprised a number around us havent had complaints and been forced to change already. The ones in question have a sign stating:
FREE STATEMENTS. And then underneath:
CASH
In a Link style font and design.
Of course these ATMs charge for withdrawals (and probably displays the charge when you transact) but its still a little naughty IMO0
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