Banks that do NOT charge for ATM withdrawals

Ascanio1

Good afternoon,

My name is Tommaso and I just moved to your beautiful island. Your climate could be more generous, but the people make up for it!

I am looking for free GBP withdrawals in the UK. Apologies if this question has been answered, I searched this forum and only found something about Starling not charging for a £150 withdrawal.

I was surprised to discover that my bank (Wise) charges after a certain number/amount of withdrawals! While I appreciate that some ATM will charge you for withdrawals, my question pertains only the bank, not the institution that services the ATM:

Which UK bank offers:
1. No limit in the number of withdrawals and/or the amount withdrawn in GBP (within limit of account balance) from a UK ATM?
2. No charges for those withdrawals?

The best that I found was Nomo Bank, that replied as follows:

Cash withdrawal limits:

• Daily ATM withdrawal: £2000 as total in 24 hours (£750 - 6 hours waiting period - £750 - 6 hours waiting period - £500)
• Max. ATM withdrawals per 24 hours: 5

Card transaction/payment limit (Card or Apple pay):

• Daily limit: £10,000 (in 1 or multiple transactions)
• Contactless transactions until Chip & Pin: 5

We are unable to confirm the ATM withdrawal charge and as confirmed, it would come from the institution operating the ATM, not from our side. We do not charge for ATM withdrawals.

I would really appreciate to be pointed in the right direction.

Tommaso

MorningcoffeeIV

Ascanio1 said:

Which UK bank offers:
1. No limit in the number of withdrawals and/or the amount withdrawn in GBP (within limit of account balance) from a UK ATM?
2. No charges for those withdrawals?

1) None that I know of.
2) Just about all of them. Charges tend to be made by selected ATMs, rather than the banks.

Olinda99

may I ask what currency your account is in and in which country

cymruchris

Most traditional banks don't charge for ATM withdrawals on a regular personal current account from machines within their network, and the limits are generally depending on the account type. It's usually £250/£300/£500 a day or something like that (balance permitting) and with many banks you can now control the limit in your app, so that if you wanted a max of £50 a day, but the bank allows £500 - you can hold it at £50. With most banks you can also withdraw money at the post office counter - it doesn't have to be an ATM. Wise isn't a bank.

DullGreyGuy

Ascanio1 said:

Good afternoon,

My name is Tommaso and I just moved to your beautiful island. Your climate could be more generous, but the people make up for it!

I am looking for free GBP withdrawals in the UK. Apologies if this question has been answered, I searched this forum and only found something about Starling not charging for a £150 withdrawal.

I was surprised to discover that my bank (Wise) charges after a certain number/amount of withdrawals! While I appreciate that some ATM will charge you for withdrawals, my question pertains only the bank, not the institution that services the ATM:

Which UK bank offers:
1. No limit in the number of withdrawals and/or the amount withdrawn in GBP (within limit of account balance) from a UK ATM?
2. No charges for those withdrawals?

The best that I found was Nomo Bank, that replied as follows:

Cash withdrawal limits:

• Daily ATM withdrawal: £2000 as total in 24 hours (£750 - 6 hours waiting period - £750 - 6 hours waiting period - £500)
• Max. ATM withdrawals per 24 hours: 5

Card transaction/payment limit (Card or Apple pay):

• Daily limit: £10,000 (in 1 or multiple transactions)
• Contactless transactions until Chip & Pin: 5

We are unable to confirm the ATM withdrawal charge and as confirmed, it would come from the institution operating the ATM, not from our side. We do not charge for ATM withdrawals.

I would really appreciate to be pointed in the right direction.

Our weather is very generous, you get to enjoy all 4 seasons within a single day!


Charges can be applied by either the ATM or the card issuer... for personal accounts it's exceptionally rare for the card issuer to charge for withdrawing money in the UK in GBP and tends only to be "pre-paid" cards rather than bank accounts. 

ATM companies can charge for using their tools, if you are looking at ATMs in banks, supermarkets etc it's rare that these charge anything. You are much more likely to find ATMs that charge in small cornershops/newsagents etc. 

All banks have certain limits for ATM withdraws both in terms of single transaction and daily limits. Some banks have a "premium" offering that may increase these but the single transaction limit may be dependent on you using their machines. Barclays Premier for example allows up to £2,000 per day and up to £1,000 in a single transaction from a Barclays ATM but other brands of ATM may limit you to lower (eg £250 or could be as low as £50 in a coronership)

If you look at any high street bank like Barclays, NatWest, HSBC, Lloyds etc they will be fee free for UK GBP ATMs

eskbanker

Ascanio1 said:

I just moved to your beautiful island

[...]

Which UK bank offers:
1. No limit in the number of withdrawals and/or the amount withdrawn in GBP (within limit of account balance) from a UK ATM?

[...]

I would really appreciate to be pointed in the right direction

We don't know where you've moved from, but cash usage in the UK has been on a steady decline for many years, accelerated by Covid, so the vast majority of places accept card payments now, i.e. for most people there simply isn't the need anymore to handle significant quantities of cash.  If you don't mind me asking, what do you anticipate needing unlimited cash withdrawals for?

friolento

Most UK banks will have a daily limit for ATM cash withdrawals. Banks don't charge for ATM withdrawals but the ATM provider might. If they do, there will be a message on the screen.


Note: Wise is not a bank but an Electronic Money Institution.

Ascanio1

Olinda99 said:

may I ask what currency your account is in and in which country

Good morning, thank you, yes, you may ask, but it is written in the question: "amount withdrawn in GBP (within limit of account balance) from a UK ATM?"

Ascanio1

cymruchris said:

Most traditional banks don't charge for ATM withdrawals on a regular personal current account from machines within their network, and the limits are generally depending on the account type. It's usually £250/£300/£500 a day or something like that (balance permitting) and with many banks you can now control the limit in your app, so that if you wanted a max of £50 a day, but the bank allows £500 - you can hold it at £50. With most banks you can also withdraw money at the post office counter - it doesn't have to be an ATM. Wise isn't a bank.

Thank you for your reply, and yes, I know, the limits that you mention.

These limits are those that I listed in my original post, and that I find insufficient.

My question was if you knew of banks that offer higher limits, at least an extra zero!

Ascanio1

To help forum members advise me, let me give some background information:

In Italy we have a €2,000 withdrawal limit per day, set by law, which you do not have in Great Britain. This limit has been challenged in court and - hopefully - it will now be lifted.

However, under current regulations, for example, Unicredit does not charge any fee whatsoever for withdrawing up to the legal limit per day (I think with a €10,000 limit per month) at any ATM. Of course the ATM itself may charge you, but not the bank. As already accepted and granted in my OP.

In England, Wise charges 4% of the withdrawn amount, after a certain number/amount.

Wise was not my first choice, but in England you do not have privacy protection laws, and foreigners cannot get a bank account, because of them. You have a system in place that banks use to spy on your credit worthiness, without consent: for a foreigner it is, therefore, impossible to open a bank account for a few years , until your system builds something called Equifax rating.

I now, finally, have this rating up to 880 with CreditScore, and I want to get rid of Wise.

So I am looking for the best bank to switch to. But when I ask this question by phone or in person, or email, they give vague answers. Only Nomo Bank replied in clear language (as posted in my OP).

Hence , I am asking this forum for help: which British bank offers no charges, no limit (balance permitting and within reason) for withdrawing GPB in England?

Flugelhorn

Not sure how long you have been here but society doesn't work like that - the ATMs are only tiddly little things and won't have that much money in them. If you want lots of cash then pop into a bank and they'll have a little chat with you about where the money has come from / how long it has been in the account etc