How Often Do Consumers Use ATMs?

You may agree that there are very few things in this world as annoying as your money costing you money. That’s precisely what happens when you use an ATM to make a withdrawal, deposit or check your bank account balances. The fees are pretty high when you use an ATM that isn’t operated by your bank or financial institution.

In most cases, you’ll have to deal with fees charged by both the bank whose ATM you use and by your bank for using an outside ATM.

Common Fees Associated with Using ATMs

ATM banks vary from bank to bank and country to country. The following are informed estimates of what you may expect to pay when you use an ATM in and outside of the United States:

The ATM operator’s fee. Whenever you use an ATM that isn’t operated by your bank or isn’t part of its network, you can expect to pay an operator’s fee. The machine often highlights the fees associated with whichever transaction you want to make. Most banks charge non-customer fee of about $2.00 – $3.00.

Fees associated with your bank’s non-network fee. Unfortunately, your bank may also charge you a fee for using an ATM that isn’t part of their network. The fee for this type of transaction is a non-network fee. The charges for this fall between $2.00 and $3.50 depending on the bank and the kind of transaction you make.

The problem with this non-network fee is that you probably won’t be told about it during the transaction. It just shows up on your bank statements.

The international transaction fee. ATM transactions in other countries usually cost a lot as well. These fees typically fall around $2.00 to $7.00 combined with a percentage of the amount The amount withdrawn often comes out to be approximately 3% of the amount you withdraw.

There are, however, some banks that offer to waive these fees if the client has a huge balance in higher-tier savings or checking accounts. Some banks also reimburse these fees.

Tips on How to Avoid ATM Fees

When you go through your bank statement, you may see lots of ATM charges. Now that you know about those little $2.00 charges, you’ll start feeling them. If you want to reduce or eliminate these costs, there are some things you can start doing today. You may even want to re-think your ATM usage.

Here are some tips that will help you cut your ATM fees:

Make it so that you only use your bank’s ATMs or those that fall under its network.
Use your bank’s app to find ATMs that are under its network.
Make fewer cash withdrawals. One way to do this is to decide how much cash you’ll need for the week or month.
Choose the cash back option when you pay with your card at a store.
Use other services to make your payments like Google or Apple Pay.

Why Not Go Online?

You could also do all your banking online. Many online bank accounts do offer ATM access. They usually fall under an ATM network of an affiliated bank or financial institution. You still have access to your money and don’t have to worry about extra ATM fees.

Trying to minimize paying ATM fees can help you save some money. And since you’re saving money, why not invest in an online savings account? Online savings accounts usually pay more in interest, which can help your savings grow even more. Plus, you’ll still have access to your money without paying some of those pesky ATM fees, as long as you use ones within your bank’s network.