Have your say on cash machines

urban_spirit

What if you have limited mobility? Your choice of which cash machine to use is also limited. So if your're stuck with charging cash machines nearby, you get charged! Banks mostly think from an 'able-body' perspective.

urban_spirit

(P.S. - That was my first post. Hello everyone!)

tee_pee_2

In the small town where my parents live there is only 1 cash machine which doesn't charge, and the other 2 do. So I hear you say " go to the free one and shut up" but the free one always runs out of money first, and the area they live in is mostly pensioners you can apprecaite they don't want to pay £1.50 to get £10 out.

fees need to be lowered, or ideally eradicated.

lipidicman

This discussion has reminded me how little I use cash. It is easy to forget that other people find a lack of cash machines such a problem. There must be six on my way to work and two within a minutes walk of work. However I find I need cash for very few things. For me chip and pin is quicker than cash (no checking change and I get a summary of my spending to analyse at the end of the month). I use cash for.....ummm
1) Buying a pint
2) Putting in the pool table
3) ...not much else

The other benefit of CC's is of course that I haven't actually paid for any of my food and other spending for the last two years yet (the money is ready though!)

Beluga_2

I have problems with cash machines because I tend to be dashing around. So I often need one that's on my way to wherever I'm going.

A nearby motorway service area has a charging cash machine (right by the front door) and a free one (somewhat hidden in a corner). That's sneaky, but I know it's there, so I can live with it.

However, on a recent visit, the place was being renovated and the free machine was unplugged and sitting in a corner. But the proprietor had managed to make sure the charging one was working throughout the building works. :mad:

I've also had problems with a charging cash machine that wasn't labelled clearly (at least, not at night on the corner of a garage forecourt). I got a warning on screen and chose to cancel. When I got my bank statement, I saw that they had taken the £1.50 out of my account, but then paid it back on the same day in a second transaction. Surely this must cost them money? (but that gives me an idea... :rolleyes: )

kenshaz

Rafter wrote:

In the US and many other countries, if you withdraw cash from your own bank you pay no fee. Use another bank or a 'private' machine and you will pay a charge.

This is because your bank has to pay a fee if you use someone elses machine, even in the UK, for accessing the link network. I think it is about 40p a time.

So someone who withdraws money from their own bank saves the bank money.

Someone who makes multiple withdrawls from a competitor bank could end up costing their own bank a fair bit.

2% interest on say a £1000 current account balance works out at £1.60 per month.

Someone making 4 withdrawls from a competitor bank to mine, costs my bank £1.60 in link charges.

I'd rather have the interest for my loyalty and for the competitor customer to pay a modest charge.

There is an alternative most of the time after all. Debit cards are more secure, don't require securicor guards to fill the machines and can be used to get cashback at retailers.

Personally I hope that cash will be replaced by something like the London Underground Oyster card or electronic wallets built into mobile phones.

In the meantime I don't see why consumers shouldn't pay for the convenience of withdrawing money, with the fee waived at their own bank.

R.

I just believe that I should never show loyalty to a bank

kenshaz

KenK wrote:

I was employed by Bank of Scotland at the time they introduced ATMs in petrol stations (I don't work for them now). I know it cost a lot of money and a lot of hassle to do so. I expect, like any business, they did it in the hope of making money from it - in this case, from the Link fees of non-BofS customers using the machines. Who can tell whether the whole exercise including the later sell-off made a profit, broke even, or actually cost them money.

If the choice is between a fee-charging ATM or no ATM at all, which would people prefer?

No ATM at all

kenshaz

kittiwoz wrote:

When you put your money in the bank the banks use that money to make investments which return profit to them. In exchange they offer you interest and serices the most important of which is being able to get at your money easily. Considering the very low rate of interest typically paid on current accounts it seems an unfair exchange to have to travel three miles or to pay in order to get access to your money. I think banks should provide a network of free cash machines in villages. A lot of small branches have been closed as a cost cutting excercise and they have done nothing to replace the most basic service they provided.

Banks want it all ways,pay low interest rates and charge you for drawing your own money out

buses7675

Hi All,

In the Somerfield store near to my house they installed a free-charging machine a few years ago (Not sure what they charged as I never used it!), but as it was located by the entrance near to the kiosk, customers wised up and started buying something to eat/drink and get cashback. Even if that cost them £1 odd, they got something back for it, and their cash!

The machine was removed some time last year and had thus far not been replaced!

Cheers

Steve

JasonW_2

I've done the cashback thing before too, buy a paper and get £10 cashback or something!

J