ATM surcharges and fees climbing higher
By Laura Bruce • Bankrate.com

The next time you and your co-workers decide to go out for pizza, think twice about using a visit to the ATM to finance your fun.

If your bank doesn't own the ATM, you could pay $3 in surcharges and fees for that quick $20 you took out. Fifteen percent is a hefty price for the convenience of withdrawing your own money.

ATMs are a necessity for many of us, but avoiding ever-escalating surcharges and fees requires a certain amount of planning. Estimating your cash needs while standing in front of your bank's ATM is the best, and cheapest, route.

Average surcharge
The average surcharge levied by traditional banks when non-customers use their ATMs is $1.49.

That's 2 cents higher than the average in our March study, and up 12 percent in just four years.

The most common charge is $1.50, but 13 percent of the institutions surveyed whack non-customers with a $2 surcharge.

Unfortunately, a growing number of institutions are hopping on the $2 bandwagon. Six months ago, only 9 percent charged $2.

Percent of institutions surcharging
More than 89 percent of institutions charge noncustomers for using their ATMs. That's up more than 22 percent in the past four years.

Total cost of surcharging
Consumers' willingness to pay exorbitant fees for convenience is most appreciated by financial institutions.

Bankrate.com estimates consumers will pay $2.27 billion in surcharges in 2002. That's up 44 percent in four years.

Average fee to use another ATM
Surcharges aren't the only cost you'll pay for using an ATM that doesn't belong to your bank. You'll also be charged a fee by your bank.

That fee is, on average, $1.42, up from $1.38 in March, the single largest jump ever seen within a six-month span.

Once again, $1.50 is the most common fee.

Eighty-eight percent of institutions surveyed charge their customers for using another bank's ATMs.

Institutions not charging for point-of-sale
A popular way to get around paying surcharges and fees is to skip the ATM, duck into a supermarket, buy a pack of gum, swipe your card and ask for $20 back. Currently, 83 percent of institutions don't tack a fee onto these so-called point-of-sale purchases. That's down from 85 percent last spring, but the percentage has remained fairly consistent since 2000.

Institutions charging for ATM cards
Only 9 percent of institutions charge customers for the privilege of having an ATM card. That percentage has stayed consistent over the past few years. The most common fee in this category is $12 per year.

Institutions offering debit cards
Most institutions, 96 percent, also offer debit cards, and about 75 percent of them have the same fee structures in place for both ATM and debit cards. Having the same fee structures for ATM and debit seems to be a declining trend. In October 1999, about 95 percent of institutions didn't differentiate between the two payment methods when it came to fees.

-- Posted: Sept. 27, 2002