Word: atm
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Consumers have come to believe that automated teller machines should distribute cash. Banks believe that ATMs should collect some too--say, a $1.50 bite out of each cash withdrawal at a bank where you're not a customer. And that's just the first bite, because often when you make such a withdrawal, two banks can get into your wallet. The combined ATM fees can reach $3.50 or more. Such sums have now sparked a nationwide legislative brawl over profitable ATM surcharges...
Consider the turmoil at ATMs in San Francisco and Santa Monica, Calif., which became the first U.S. cities to ban bank ATM surcharges. Megabanks Wells Fargo and Bank of America fired back by closing their ATMs to nondepositors in Santa Monica and threatening to do the same in San Francisco when its law takes effect in December--all of which made cardholders even angrier. A federal judge sided with the banks by blocking the anti-fee laws until a full trial can determine their constitutionality. Says Santa Monica council member Michael Feinstein: "The electorate's response to the ordinance...
...ATM WAR Legislators in several cities, angered by rising ATM fees, have simply outlawed them. But last week the banks struck back. Wells Fargo and Bank of America began barring noncustomers from using their ATMs in Santa Monica, Calif., after the city council banned surcharges. San Francisco residents may soon be facing the same fate. "The banks have a right to earn a return on their investment," argues Joseph Morford, a banking analyst for Dain Rauscher Wessels in San Francisco. The machines cost up to $50,000 each. But consumers now appear to be lowering their own costs by cutting...
...cash? No problem, see that green and blue glow up ahead? Its a one-every-25 yards Bank Boston ATM...
...bank representative will tell you, financial institutions have to cover the expense of setting up all these ATMs, and if consumers find the fees so unpalatable, they should probably just find a machine operated by their own bank. Many people agree. "I think it's amazing that anyone would expect to use another bank's ATM without paying a fee," says TIME finance writer Daniel Kadlec. And what about moments when you're trapped 60 miles southeast of Oshkosh and you can't find your own ATM machine? "These machines are an extraordinary convenience," says Kadlec...