The average out-of-network ATM fee for the Bayou City is $4.71, tied for sixth highest nationwide.
Advertisement
Atlanta has the nation’s highest ATM fees – calculated as the fee charged by the ATM owner, plus the fee charged by the user’s bank – at $5.15. That’s the highest the fee has been in the 18 years Bankrate has issued the report, and it’s a 4% increase from the average fee in 2014.
The good news? According to Bankrate’s chief financial analyst Greg McBride, the fees are going up because most bank customers have wisened up to the “completely avoidable” charges for using another bank’s ATM. Eyeing the way that the fees for using ATM machines are soaring, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the banks are operating under the delusion that your money belongs to them.
Surprisingly, ATM fees are lower in San Francisco than in any other large city in the U.S. In this typically expensive city, you’ll pay an average of $3.85 per out-of-network ATM withdrawal – a penny cheaper than an ATM transaction in the much-less-expensive metro area of Cincinnati.
But in the everyday world the rise in ATM fees is becoming harder and harder to escape. He urges people to use ATM’s within their bank’s network and recommends joining a bank that reimburses out of network charges.
Nor are rising cash machine fees the end of it. Checking account fees rose an average of $11 a year ago.
“Banks often refer to these as non-shopped fees, because customers don’t pay attention to them when they shop for bank services”, he said. In another survey, almost 25 percent of respondents said they even look for opportunities to make small purchases and receive cash back in order to avoid using an ATM.
Advertisement
At a few point ATM fees will surely reach such a ridiculous level that they could be defined as usury.
