Bank Machine ATMs and 5 pound notes

texranger

ThumbRemote wrote: »

Is that another texranger fact?

Also known as 'wrong' to the rest of the world.

this is correct, but as i said the BoE have been saying this for the last 2 years

MarkyMarkD

fluffnutter wrote: »

Coupled with the fact that those on lower incomes often find themselves limited to machines in 'convenience' locations so don't have the opportunity to find one that doesn't charge, I think this is just cynical marketing.

I'd like to see some evidence for that random assertion, fluffnutter.

According to Link's website there are 42,000 free ATMs in the UK (and 22,500 fee-charging ones) and 97% of withdrawals are made from free ATMs.

To claim that of the 3% of paid-for withdrawals, a large proportion are made by people on low incomes is a bit of a stretch.

I think a far more likely conclusion is that most of the 3% of such transactions are made by lazy people who can't be bothered to walk 1/2 a mile (or a lot less on most cases) to get some cash for free. And that's why fee-charging ATMs are a legitimate business service - there is nothing wrong in providing options for lazy people - it's exactly what convenience stores do across their entire product ranges.

CAB did a report on free/charging ATMs, and as usual it missed the point. It went on about "free ATM deserts" and the like, and complained that in many obscure locations there were only charging ATMs.

Well -duh! And before the introduction of those charging ATMs, there were generally ... no ATMs.

The idea that lots of free ATMs have become charging is a myth. The vast majority of the charging ATMs in the network are incremental ATMs.

So, before people had the option of paying £1.50 or £1.95 to withdraw cash in an obscure location, they had no option other than to travel to a free ATM (or plan ahead, and keep more money in hand).

Charging ATMs are not the bogeyman that some people (Nationwide, anyone?) seem to think.

By the way, there is now great prevalence of free cashback with transactions, not just in the main supermarkets but also in other locations; this gives another quite reasonable way for the underprivileged to obtain cash free of charge.

WhiteHorse

catkins2 wrote: »

They claim that they are providing a valuable service to people on low incomes because by drawing out 5 pound denominations

They are 'helping' the poor by charging them more.

Er, right.