ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, June 28, 1996 TAG: 9606280033
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
Automatic teller machine customers would know before making a transaction how much it would cost under a measure introduced in the House.
``This bill will let the consumer make an informed decision,'' Rep. Marge Roukema, R-N.J., said as she introduced a bill requiring the disclosure of ATM fees.
The bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., would require ATM operators to display any service surcharge on the screen before a transaction and on a sign by the cash machine.
``It's been three months since banks have been allowed to levy surcharges,'' Schumer said. ``Already, 30 percent of the nation's largest banks are charging for the service. You can bet your bottom dollar that surcharges will be coming soon to a bank near you.''
The measure, lawmakers said, follows consumer outrage since April 1 when ATM operators in 35 states were allowed to charge customers an extra fee if they use machines outside their own banking system. That practice was already legal in 15 states.
The bill would only require disclosure of that machine operator's fee, and not the fee charged by a user's own bank if the customer is using another bank's machine.
Three banks that do business in Western Virginia said the pending legislation would not affect them.
Cheryl Jenkins, spokeswoman for Crestar Bank, said that bank does not impose a surcharge on users of its ATM machines. The only charge would be imposed by the user's own bank.
First Union National Bank of Virginia and NationsBank both charge noncustomers $1 per transaction for use of its ATM machines, but their machines already carry the warnings.
First Union spokeswoman Alexis Ellison said signs are posted on the machines warning noncustomers of the fee. A second notice appears on the screen prior to completion of the transaction that gives the users an opportunity to back out.
The warning does not appear on the screen for the bank's own customers, who are not charged the fee.
Roukema, chairwoman of the House Banking subcommittee on financial institutions and consumer credit, said that additional step is not yet technologically feasible and would not be cost-effective. The measure does require the General Accounting Office to study it.
The measure also would make banks warn customers when they issue ATM cards that other banks may impose surcharges.
Rep. Cleo Fields, D-La., said automatic teller machines set up for special events at Mardi Gras in New Orleans have charged up to $6 a transaction.
The American Bankers Association said the bill goes too far.
``It's going to be difficult to support in this form,'' said association spokeswoman Virginia Stafford.
Stafford said the industry already discloses fees voluntarily, and is concerned that the measure does not account for future technological changes with automatic teller machines.
Consumer advocates such as the Center for Study of Responsive Law and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group said the measure does not go far enough.
``What's needed is a complete prohibition of double charges for single transactions that cut banks' costs,'' said Janice Shields, consumer finance coordinator at the Center for Study of Responsive Law.
Staff writer Mag Poff contributed to this story.
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