Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 3, 1994                   TAG: 9406030136
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IN BUSINESS

WASHINGTON - Banks earned almost $2 billion last year by charging their customers for using automatic teller machines rather than human tellers, a consumer study says.

``Only in banking do consumers pay more for self-service,'' said Chris Lewis, a banking expert for the Consumer Federation of America, which issued the study.

The banking industry's largest trade group, the American Bankers Association, angrily denounced the report, saying more than 80 percent of banks charge nothing for using their own machines and that the fees charged for using other banks' machines were fair.

The federation's study, ``ATMs: High-Tech Cash Cows,'' coauthored by accounting Professor Janice Shields of Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania, said banks took in $2.55 billion in ATM revenue in 1993, and saved an additional $2.34 billion in human teller costs.

The cost of operating the ATM networks was $2.9 billion, leaving almost $2 billion in profit.

In other words, the study said, 78 cents in profit is generated for every $1 collected in fee revenue.

- Associated Press

Fuel economy upgrades urged

WASHINGTON - Raising auto fuel economy standards over the next several years could cut pollution and save Americans billions of dollars, two consumer groups said Thursday.

Increasing fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks ``is an investment in our future,'' Anna Aurilio of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group said Thursday.

The group and the Sierra Club issued a joint study that estimated an 84 percent improvement in fuel economy standards by 2010 would result in an annual saving of $576.22 in gasoline costs for the typical American household.

The technology to increase fuel economy by that much is expected to raise the cost of a car by about $770, Aurilio said.

That means a one-car household would be ahead of the game after about 16 months. Because the average household has 1.8 vehicles, according to Census Bureau estimates, the added cost would be $1,386 and the break-even point would come after two years and four months.

Corporate average fuel economy for automobiles is set now at 27.5 miles per gallon for new cars and 20.6 miles per gallons for light trucks. That means that the average mileage for a manufacturer has to meet that limit, with some cars doing better, some not so well.

The two groups proposed a gradual increase in the standard to 45 miles per gallon for cars and 34 miles per gallon for light trucks, for a 60 percent increase between 1996 and 2006.

- Associated Press

MCI glitch stalls East Coast calls

WASHINGTON - A software glitch in MCI Communications Corp.'s network disrupted service primarily along the East Coast for about two hours on Thursday before being corrected, said MCI spokesman Kevin Inda.

The glitch affected 16 switches, which are used to route calls. All of those switches are located on the East Coast, except for one in Dallas, Inda said.

The problem was detected at 4 p.m. and fixed by 5:26 p.m., Inda said. ``It was a minor outage over a large geographic area,'' he said.

- Associated Press