Most consumers hate paying ATM fees, especially if you are withdrawing money from an ATM machine that is not part of your own bank.  I usually see fees in the range of $1.50 to $2.00, but today I stopped by a local, small-town bank where it says, “Our main goal is to provide superior service that meets- and exceeds- your expectations.” Well, they exceeded my expectations alright, especially when they wanted to charge me $3.00 to use their ATM! Okay, I wasn’t one of their customers… but the reason I was withdrawing money was so I could walk inside and open an account. Needless to say, their other fees were also excessive and I walked back out the door. This wasn’t a branch of a national bank- just a small town bank in Missouri that for years has had the reputation of taking care of customers. Perhaps they still do, yet now charge high fees as well. To their credit, they offer very competitive CD rates, which is apparently their focus point. But I was disappointed to say the least. Charging $3.00 for a non-customer to use their ATM more resembles the independent “let’s stick an ATM anywhere” businesses.  You can almost understand the reason for higher ATM fees with that business model, but I haven’t even seen a $3.00 fee at one of those machines yet!
I tried to find some national statistics on ATM fees, but found nothing specific after a short search. Generally it seems $2.00-$2.50 is the highest most people see across the U.S. Perhaps $3.00 may even be common in several major cities… but rural, small-town Missouri? Some banks will tell you they charge the fees because of “network access charges” or that your other bank is charging them…. Not so fast. In my case, I called my primary bank and they verified they do not charge other banks or institutions fees for a customer to use an ATM card or access their account. I’m all for paying for quality service, at a fair price. In this case, they are not offering either.Â
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