How to fight the fees
By Jay MacDonald • Bankrate.com

Want to join in the fight to end ATM surcharges?

The bottom line is simple, industry experts say. Until the big banks successfully challenge local bans in court, they will stand. And, even if the courts side with the banks, enough popular support for local and statewide bans in the next 12 months might get Washington moving as election time looms.

It's all about the grass roots, they say: Get enough signatures on a petition, get the local press reporting on an anti-surcharge uprising or get enough people to a city council meeting and your local government can decide to ban ATM surcharges.

Here are some other basic steps you can take:

1. Educate your family, friends and co-workers about the surcharge issue and ways they can help make ATMs less profitable for fee-charging banks. Letters, e-mails or neighborhood mailbox flyers can work well.
2. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper, and have as many of your like-minded friends as you can find write as well. Let the paper know there is a groundswell in the community against these surcharges.
3. Write your representatives: Start at your local level and write every government official that represents you, from the city council to President Clinton.
4. Write the regulators: Let your state and national banking regulators know your thoughts on ATM surcharges.

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5. Contact or start a community group of like-minded citizens. Check your state and local Internet links or call City Hall to find out if a group already exists in your area and attend their meetings.
6. Link your group with organizers at the state level: They may have already determined which course of political action looks the most promising in your state.
7. Mount a leaflet or direct mail campaign to educate other voters in your area and invite them to join your group.
8. Draft a petition and get it signed. Numbers bring about change. A signed petition can convince your town council or board of supervisors to take up the surcharge fight.
9. If your representatives won't act, file to place a referendum on the public ballot in the next election if it can be done in your state, just as the San Francisco organizers did.

Jay MacDonald is a freelance writer based in Florida

-- Posted: Nov. 3, 1999