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Australia’s largest bank, and largest allegedly scandal-ridden bank, has declared ATM fees are dead, at long last, but will ALL banks and credit unions follow, or only some as is currently the case?
There once was a time when ATM fees were hidden, displayed on your bank statement each month, whenever you used an ATM from a bank different to your own, or on a non-compatible network.
This fee then became overt, displayed on an ATM whenever you used one that wasn’t from your bank or from a compatible network.
The fee was usually $2, but could easily rise to $2.50 or higher at ATMs found in petrol stations, or nightclubs or other places.
{loadposition alex08}You could have always avoided fees by finding an ATM from your own bank, or a friendly bank that charged you no fees, but not everyone was doing this to the tune of half a billion dollars each year, according to online reports.
So, when Australia’s largest bank, the Commonwealth Bank, said it would eliminate ATM fees for all ATM users, which means those of other banks, it naturally comes as a surprise.
This is the bank which has also been in the news a lot of this year and previous years for alleged insurance rorts against paying customers, and alleged bad financial advice that allegedly cost its customers a heck of a lot of money.
There’s also the alleged money laundering issues by customers that the bank allegedly turned a blind eye to, leading to the current highly overpaid chief executive Ian Narev announcing he would leave next year, presumably in shame for so many bad bucks stopping with him that he should have ensured never happened in the first place.
In a statement, CommBank claims this is “a first for an Australian bank”, and said it “has removed ATM withdrawal fees so all CommBank and non-CommBank customers won’t be charged an ATM withdrawal fee by us when they take cash out at any of our 3400 ATMs".
The “Which Bank” pointed to RBA data which “shows that Australians made more than 250 million ATM withdrawals from banks other than their own last year so the move is designed to increase convenience and bring savings".
The Reserve Bank data specifically “shows a total 251,651,300 ‘foreign’ ATM cash withdrawals in the last financial year".
Matt Comyn, group executive, CBA Retail Banking Services, said: “Australians have complained for some time about being charged fees for using another bank’s ATM.
“We have been listening to consumer groups and our customers and understand that there’s a need to make changes that benefit all Australians, no matter who they bank with. This is one of the steps we’re taking to make that happen.
“As Australia's largest bank, with one of the largest branch and ATM networks, we think this change will benefit many Australians and hopefully demonstrate our willingness to listen and act on customer feedback.”
We’re told that “no ATM withdrawal fee access applies to CommBank-branded ATMs".
For some reason, this “excludes Bankwest ATMs” and also excludes “customers using overseas cards".
As noted by the ABC, Westpac, ANZ and NAB have or will also drop the fee, with ANZ to drop its fee in "early October".
Whether this will force CBA to drop the fee for Bankwest ATMs also is yet to be seen.
News.com.au reports Westpac stating its fee-free decision also extends to “St George, Bank of Melbourne and BankSA customers”.
We're yet to hear what banks such as Bendigo or Beyond Bank will do, and whether credit unions and the Redicard network will also go fee-free, no word on that yet, but it will be chased up.
Here’s two CBA videos on the welcome removal of ATM withdrawal fees:
Second video: