ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 2, 1996 TAG: 9604020083
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
note: below
ATM could stand for A Tad More, which is what customers seem resigned to pay for the convenience of banking at automated teller machines under new rules that took effect Monday.
``They are charging me to get my own money,'' said Taiwo Ogunleye, a physical therapist in the Detroit suburb of Southfield. ``That's wrong. But there's nothing I can do about it.''
Already legal in 15 states, ATM operators in the remaining states were given permission to charge customers an extra fee if they use machines outside their own banking system.
Until now, ATM users typically were charged about $1 per transaction by their own bank, if they were charged at all. But now consumers may have to pay two fees - one to their own bank, and one to the owner of the bank machine.
The charge is a result of decisions last year by two major ATM systems operated by Visa International and MasterCard International. Visa did not set a maximum fee that could be charged, but said it expects banks to charge 25 cents to $2.50 per transaction for machines not owned by their bank.
Banks lobbied Visa and MasterCard to lift the ban on ATM surcharges because they want to levy fees at ATMs located in hotels and resorts, convention centers and turnpike rest stops. These ATMs are convenient to customers but expensive for banks to operate.
Among major statewide Virginia banks, only NationsBank Corp. said Monday it has plans to impose an extra surcharge on noncustomers who use its automated teller machines.
The surcharge was permitted for the first time Monday under rules of the Most and Plus ATM networks which dominate the network interchange in Virginia.
Other networks, especially those on the West Coast, had previously permitted such a charge, according to James Hinson, president of First Virginia Bank-Southwest. Hinson recently paid an additional $2 on an ATM transaction during a trip to California.
That was in addition to the long-standing network charge, usually $1.50 per transaction, for people who use ATMs at banks other than at institutions where they are depositors.
The fee, Hinson said, is split between the bank owning the teller machine, and thus advancing the cash, and the bank which has the customer's account.
Most banks do not charge this fee to their own customers. In the Roanoke Valley, only First Virginia charges its own customers 25 cents per transaction for use of its own ATMs.
The new rules, Hinson said, permit the bank or other business which owns the machine to impose a second fee.
He said rules require that notices must appear on the machine before the new fee can be imposed. The message must also appear on the computer's screen during the transaction.
Pam Meier, spokeswoman for NationsBank, said it will institute a fee of $1 starting next Monday. That is in addition to the network cost of $1.50. She said the fee won't be imposed on NationsBank's own customers.
Central Fidelity, Crestar, First Union, First Virginia, NBC and Signet banks said they have no plans to impose the extra fee in the immediate future.
David Scanzoni, spokesman for First Union, said the best course for customers is to use the machines at their own banks. They would, under policies at most banks, avoid all fees.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 linesby CNB