ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, August 11, 1996 TAG: 9608090008
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: BANKING
SOURCE: MAG POFF
There you are at 10 p.m., holding a check for $102.53. You would really like to be able to deposit $50 to your bank account and receive $52.53 in cash and change.
But you also need stamps to mail some important letters, but the post office is long closed.
No problem, provided your bank has automated teller machines - of the future. Soon, you will be able to solve both dilemmas at one of your bank's ATMs.
Those machines that now accept your deposits and dole out cash in multiples of 10s or 20s are about to become much smarter, at least at some banks.
First off, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ruled in May that banks could sell some items from ATMs if they involve transfers of funds from one person to another. In other words, banks can't sell products directly. But they can charge a fee for shifting the money from the buyer's bank account and credit the account of a merchant.
Cited in the industry as examples of such products are tickets for public transportation and entertainment events, gift certificates, prepaid phone cards, postage stamps, travelers checks and money orders. These are all items that can be dispensed through slots, the way ATMs provide cash now.
Most banks still are shying away from dispensing anything except money, but not NationsBank.
John Brennan, senior vice president who oversees automated banking, said NationsBank has formed a team to pursue aggressively ATM merchandising. Postage stamps and airline tickets are under consideration.
Whether the idea goes forward depends on how quickly the changes can be incorporated into the data processing systems, Brennan said.
The team is also weighing whether NationsBank customers are ready to use ATMs for such shopping. Brennan said customers must see a value in banks offering such a service. If customers fail to value the service, NationsBank won't offer it.
The team study doesn't include target dates. Brennan said he believes that any switch to such services will be incremental with "some activity" in the next year.
But NationsBank, First Union National Bank and Central Fidelity Bank are all about to launch a new ATM service. These upgraded machines will allow customers to cash a check - to the penny - and deposit some of the money into their accounts.
You must be a customer with accounts in the bank that owns the machine. Or you can cash a check drawn on the bank that owns the machine. These, however, are the same rules for tellers to cash a check at most banks.
The same machines will show on the screen an image of any check you deposit.
Brennan said some people use ATMs to pick up quick cash, but they won't drop a deposit into the machine and watch it disappear into an anonymous slot. The problem, he said, "is more psychological than anything else," but many people lack confidence in a teller machine.
The image on the screen, Brennan hopes, will give depositors "comfort."
NationsBank will begin deploying the new machines next year when it also will add 1,400 new ATMs to the 2,300 it already operates.
Central Fidelity Banks will begin switching to that type of machine within the next few months, according to spokeswoman Susan Lawrence Mistr.
In Western Virginia, Mistr said, the first smart machines will be installed inside Wal-Mart stores in Roanoke, Christiansburg and Martinsville. Others will be changed over as the software is delivered.
First Union already is experimenting in Durham and Asheville, N.C., with machines that drop out the exact change, said spokesman David Scanzoni.
First Union's ATM will scan the check electronically. At the same time, the customer must enter the amount of the check. If the two figures match, the machine will cash the check, including dollar bills and coins.
The system takes the chance that the check will prove to be bad, but this is also true of teller transactions. "Most checks don't bounce," Scanzoni said.
A significant number of people still use tellers for many types of transactions. Scanzoni said the more sophisticated machines will give customers another option without waiting in line or conforming to banking hours.
First Union has 2,100 ATMs, including 175 in Virginia. The bank will add another 500 by the end of the year and more in 1997. Many will be free-standing machines in high-traffic areas such as malls and sports arenas.
LENGTH: Medium: 83 linesby CNB