Credit Card charges via Machine withdrawal New Tax ?

donimmold

How about a campaign on here to stop this new tax on our cash.
First we were told "How beneficial it is to have your money paid directly to your bank a/c , but you have the choice," then we were told you MUST put you salary into a bank a/c, now we are told "We are going to charge you to GET your money from your bank a/c. Why dont we give everything we receive in income and just go and BEG some of it when we desperately need it, on our hands a knees? You think I am joking. Once the banks have sold all their machines to buyers, who will then put new ones inside the shops, try and get "Cashback Sir ?" Just black list the machines that are charging, its worth a try. DONIMMOLD

grumbler

You can always withdraw money free in the branch’s cash machines. If you prefer to have all you salary in cash, you need only a few visits to a branch per month. One visit will be enough to get cash over a counter. However, I do not think that it is the best option to keep a lot of money in pockets or at home.
I think it is fair to charge you for convenience to withdraw you money anywhere and whenever you want. The amount of fee can be a subject of discussion though.
If remote cash machines do not make profit they could just disappear! :eek:

pin

As far as I'm aware credit cards have always charged for you to withdraw money from cash machines.

grumbler

rupenshah wrote:

As far as I'm aware credit cards have always charged for you to withdraw money from cash machines.

Obviously, donimmold means DEBIT cards

Galstonian

I don't agree with the idea that this is a new tax. I do get annoyed where people have no choice, for example in some rural areas where there are no regular ATMs, but it just annoys me when people get on their high horse and start on the "penalising those who can least afford it" argument or go on about how banks are making a fortune from these fees. I honestly do not believe this is the case.

The machines which I know of locally which charge a fee are purely about convenience, a number of free machines are all available less than half a mile away (including a brand new one). I also noticed that there are now machines at McDonalds and outside the cinema which charge fees. If you choose to use these then please just pay the fee and shut up; if you don't then really what is the problem?

pin

grumbler wrote:

Obviously, donimmold means DEBIT cards

But then why is the title of the thread "credit card charges via machine..." and its in the credit card section of the forums?

don9999

I agree completely with Galstonian, and am fed up with people complaining (on TV, on radio, in newspapers etc..) about cash machines that charge for withdrawls.

In the past, there were only 'hole in the wall' machines outside of banks and building societies. These machines never charged for withdrawls, and still don't.

These days, there are several companies that have installed many MORE machines in NEW locations, such as shops, restaurants, bars etc... etc... Of course they are going to charge a fee for providing this service. It costs them to PROVIDE the service (ie. installing the machine, maintaining it, filling it with money etc. etc.) so they will charge for the service. AND when someone peovides a service, it is VERY rare for them not to want to make some profit out of it, otherwise they would not provide the service!

We, the public, have a choice. Continue to withdraw our money free from the old holes-in-the-wall, or make use of the 'often more convenient' cash machines, and be prepared to pay for the service.

I simply don't understand peoples' argument that it is OUR money, so we shouldn't be charged for getting it. We are NOT being charged for the money itself, we are being charged for the service to bring the money TO us.

We can of course discuss the issue of 'pricing' for this service. The providers have a choice of charging a fixed fee per transaction eg. £1.50, whatever the size. Or, charging a fixed percentage, per transaction. I 'think' they have settled for the fixed fee of £1.50. In percentage terms this is extortionate for small withdrawls (15% for a £10 withdrawl), and 'reasonable' for a large withdrawl (1.5% for a £100 withdrawl). They could of course have opted for a percentage, such as 5%, which would have cut the costs of a small withdrawl (eg. fee of just 50p for a £10 withdrawl), yet increased the costs of a large withdrawl (ie. fee of £5 for a £100 withdrawl).

Whichever method they use they would get complaints. Now, they get complaints from the people who regularly withdraw small amounts - if they went for a percentage, they would get complaints from people who regularly withdraw larger amounts.

A compromise may have been a percentage, with a capped ceiling eg. 5%, with a £2.50 maximum fee per transaction. But this would have reduced the service providers profits and hence was probably disregarded for that reason.

Personally, I NEVER use a cash machine that charges for withdrawls. But I don't think that we need a 'campaign' to boycott such machines. If there were no demand for them, then the providers would see no profit in it, and not provide the service. However, it seems that there IS demand for such a service, so calling people to boycott the machines is not possible. If it DID happen, you'd find that the charges weren't dropped, just that the machines were taken away.

However, it DOES make sense to get machines to be sponsored/subsidised so as to prevent charges for withdrawls. For example, a restaurant chain could sponsor the provider (ie. pay them an annual fee) to provide cash machines free within all their restaurants. Service provider makes a profit, customer gets their money without a charge, restaurant makes more money by encouraging people to dine there. Everyone is happy!

Cheers,
Don

jen_jen_2

The point of any campaign is this is the thin edge of the wedge - as the banks themselves point out they will continue to sell off the machines, the fee chargers want at least 5% of the market. A few years ago the banks began charging if you used another banks machine, the only way that was stopped was because people complianed loudly.

First they closed the branches to provide us with a better service and left ATM's now these have been sold off and we have to go further for free ones, next step they will all charge and where will we be then??

We as consumers have little choice but to have our income paid into bank accounts, it is a monopoly of sorts and if all the banks charge to access the money then what choice is there??

At a time when banks are making record profits they should remember who their customers are, we already pay for this "service" by the interest we forego on our accounts, why is is right for banks to have two bites of the cherry? The banking industry should remember we as the customers are the important people not the shareholders.

As an aside i noticed the Barclays advert says withdraw money from our atm free. Maybe were getting somewhere.....

scattycat_3

Gal should this post not be on Current Accounts board as it obviously refers to Bank Cards,( Sevicetill and debit)?

The last couple of times banks charged you to get your own money, didnt last long, due to public pressure. When a charge per cheque was introduced there was uproar. The 50p fee for using a different machine, resulted in Link. They will never stop trying to maximise profits though. This is a cost cutting execise, as someone has to fill them up at double-time working hours
These machines are meant as a convenience, and usually in convenience stores.

My favourite response to Officious Bank Managers, if you ever meet one is,

" As I give you my wages every month, how about sharing.
I will lend you the money for the first two weeks and will not charge you. You canthen lend me the same amount for the next two weeks, and we will call it quits.
Now WHAT could be Fairer?"

Watch them splutter, and try to explain it doesnt work like that

donimmold

Why does the saying that "some can not see the wood for the trees" come to mind over my suggestion. RUPENSHAH is right of course regarding Debit instead of Credit cards, but I have lived long and I say that you will be having a lot more taken off you before much more time is up. Perhaps I am wrong and the banks are truely wonderful and magnanimous and generous. And the moon is made of cheese.They really are doing us a favour charging us on our own money whichever way they do it. (Have you seen the charges when you slide a little over into debt by not very much?) There are actually some folk who are not on very good wages. I am fortunately not one of them.
I retract my suggestion and limp away badly mauled . I think not. DONIMMOLD

Detail_Merchant

I wondered a bit about this issue when it was in the news a few days ago.

Looking at an article on the BBC news site at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4097653.stm one bit caught my eye:

During the first seven months of 2004 the number of fee charging ATMs grew by 29%. At the same time, the number of free machines grew by 0.3%.

So it is not, generally, the case that these new convenience cash points are replacing free ones, just that they are increasing in numbers much more than the free ones.

Of course if in a particular area the last free cash-point is closed then that is an issue that needs to be addressed, but I see nothing wrong with people being given the choice between added convenience for a fee, or a small walk, to where they would have had to walk before the existence of the convenience machine, and a fee free withdrawal.

I agree that convenience machines should be properly labelled, and of course, if people don't want to use them, that's fine, but I see no need for a campaign against them per se.

I think it is better for us as consumers to choose the right battle. Rather than complain about being given extra choice, we should hold fire but complain if the banks ever do start trying it on and reducing the number of fee-free machines.

Detail Merchant