How to Throw Money Away

[JulieW]

Pet Hate:

ATM fees: Australians pay $548 million for their money

According to financial comparison website RateCity.com.au, which analysed data from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), around 40 per cent of ATM transactions were made using third-party or 'foreign' machines last year, costing an estimated $548 million in obligatory fees.

Sally Tindall, Money Editor at RateCity said on Monday, "Half a billion dollars a year is an excessive amount of money to be spending on accessing our own money."

According to RateCity, on average, one in three Australians still pay the $2 or $3 transaction fee, with 40 per cent of women and young adults more likely to pay the fee for the sake of convenience. Comparatively, around 27 per cent of Baby Boomers admitted using a third-party ATM.

Additionally, Ms Tindall said that despite the availability of everyday accounts that promise to refund ATM fees irrespective of which outlet the customer uses, only five per cent of Australians were choosing to use these accounts.

An RBA report released last week revealed that since the industry reforms to pricing arrangements that took place in 2009, direct ATM charges have increased and transactions have waned. The decline in the number of overall ATM withdrawals reflects the growing trend for customers choosing to make electronic payments rather than cash.

How much Australians have paid in ATM fees:

$548m year to January 2016
$596m year to January 2015
$683m year to January 2009
$815m year to January 2008

https://www.yourlifechoices.com.au/news/atm-fees-aussies-pay-548-million

Half a billion!!!
And look at 2008 and the decline since. This could actually be an indicator.

 

[House]

Half a billion dollars a year is an excessive amount of money to be spending on accessing our own money.

It's not your money when it comes from a different banks ATM. It's a service from a competitor that provides convenience, I have no issue with paying $2 to not walk 20min+ to my own banks ATM.

And seriously, they're picking on the $2 charge over all the other ridiculous bank fees? :lol:

 

[Jislizard]

Half a billion dollars a year is an excessive amount of money to be spending on accessing our own money.

It's not your money when it comes from a different banks ATM. It's a service from a competitor that provides convenience, I have no issue with paying $2 to not walk 20min+ to my own banks ATM.

And seriously, they're picking on the $2 charge over all the other ridiculous bank fees? :lol:

+1

They are offering a service which you can chose to use or not use depending on how you feel about the charge.

Every time I go shopping I get asked if I want to take some cash out as well, I always say no to this as I am sure I read somewhere that if you use your credit card to take cash out you get charged interest immediately at 17% or whatever.

 

[Killface]

^^ But Coles, Big W etc do offer free withdrawals from savings accounts, even without a purchase.

Or at least they did last time I needed cash, but who uses that filthy terrorist money any more?

 

[Currawong]

Yep, Coles and Woolworths both allow you to take cash out from your savings account without purchasing anything first. They actually want people to withdraw money with every purchase because then they don't have to pay an armoured car company to pick it up.
(At least that's what I was told by someone who works at a chain supermarket).
Like previous posters have said tho, of all the stupid/ripoff fees banks charge ATM ones are both valid and pretty easy to avoid.

 

[SilverDJ]

Yep, Coles and Woolworths both allow you to take cash out from your savings account without purchasing anything first. They actually want people to withdraw money with every purchase because then they don't have to pay an armoured car company to pick it up.
(At least that's what I was told by someone who works at a chain supermarket).

The armoured car company still has to come deliver the money

 

[BuggedOut]

This is a classic case. It is not about "the cost of doing business" or any kind of "supply and demand" construct....

....it is ALL about charging what "the market will bear". Yes, people would rather pay $2 than walk 20 mins to find another ATM, but it is a gouge pure and simple. There is no way that the charge can be justified or explained in any other way than plain old profiteering.

 

[SilverDJ]

This is a classic case. It is not about "the cost of doing business" or any kind of "supply and demand" construct....
....it is ALL about charging what "the market will bear". Yes, people would rather pay $2 than walk 20 mins to find another ATM, but it is a gouge pure and simple. There is no way that the charge can be justified or explained in any other way than plain old profiteering.

A lot of those free standing ATM's you see in shopping centres are privately owned or small business owned or hired out etc.
http://www.atm2go.com.au/
http://www.completeatmservices.com.au/
You can buy your own machine and go into business if you can find a profitable spot.

It's not a case of the "big banks" price gouging.

 

[Jislizard]

This is a classic case. It is not about "the cost of doing business" or any kind of "supply and demand" construct....
....it is ALL about charging what "the market will bear". Yes, people would rather pay $2 than walk 20 mins to find another ATM, but it is a gouge pure and simple. There is no way that the charge can be justified or explained in any other way than plain old profiteering.

A lot of those free standing ATM's you see in shopping centres are privately owned or small business owned or hired out etc.
http://www.atm2go.com.au/
http://www.completeatmservices.com.au/
You can buy your own machine and go into business if you can find a profitable spot.

It's not a case of the "big banks" price gouging.

We are trying to get one of the big banks to put an ATM in our hospital campus but they are not interested because there is not enough traffic to make it worth their while so if we want one we will probably have to get a third party ATM. If they could make money from it I am sure they would but it just isn't worth their while to install and maintain one.

We don't take money out of the hole in the wall more than once a month because we don't want to pay $2 after the first free ATM withdrawal.

 

[House]

This is a classic case. It is not about "the cost of doing business" or any kind of "supply and demand" construct....

....it is ALL about charging what "the market will bear". Yes, people would rather pay $2 than walk 20 mins to find another ATM, but it is a gouge pure and simple. There is no way that the charge can be justified or explained in any other way than plain old profiteering.

So charging non-customers to contribute to the maintenance, labor costs, insurance, CCTV, armored truck delivery and other associated costs of a $100k ATM is unjustified?

 

[Lunardragon]

Yep, Coles and Woolworths both allow you to take cash out from your savings account without purchasing anything first. They actually want people to withdraw money with every purchase because then they don't have to pay an armoured car company to pick it up.
(At least that's what I was told by someone who works at a chain supermarket).

The armoured car company still has to come deliver the money

a security company charges % of the 'count monies' on their collection service. So it is one of the ways to reduce collection fee.

 

[BuggedOut]

So charging non-customers to contribute to the maintenance, labor costs, insurance, CCTV, armored truck delivery and other associated costs of a $100k ATM is unjustified?

What a load of sh1te. I see you are trolling me again but I will bite, once only.

Where are these ATMs? They are at bank branches - where all of these costs are present regardless. ATMs were originally put in banks to reduce workload for tellers, thus reducing staffing requirements. ATMs at banks were a savings initiative.

Then the ATMs went into locations like pubs, clubs, racecourses, shopping centres. Why? Because these venues wanted customers to have ready cash to spend at THEIR locations. If there is cost there then it would be borne by the location and I think these venues paid for the privilege of having ATMs.

We must have had a good many years of ATMs all over the country without these charges. Now suddenly they are whacking $2+ charge on each transaction and claim they are covering costs. Please!

Next you'll be telling me they should be charging for the privilege of withdrawing money directly from the bank. Of course the tellers, labor costs, insurance...blah blah all needs to be paid for right!

 

[SilverDJ]

a security company charges % of the 'count monies' on their collection service. So it is one of the ways to reduce collection fee.

Fair point.
But ultimately they have to juggle getting cash in for the change + the cash-outs, plus handling the reserves etc (e.g. into their local overnight safe)
So it's not like they can run down to zero cash before the next pickup. So I can't see if it's a major reason for offer cash out, there has to be some other compelling reason?

 

[House]

So charging non-customers to contribute to the maintenance, labor costs, insurance, CCTV, armored truck delivery and other associated costs of a $100k ATM is unjustified?

What a load of sh1te. I see you are trolling me again but I will bite, once only.

Where are these ATMs? They are at bank branches - where all of these costs are present regardless. ATMs were originally put in banks to reduce workload for tellers, thus reducing staffing requirements. ATMs at banks were a savings initiative.

Then the ATMs went into locations like pubs, clubs, racecourses, shopping centres. Why? Because these venues wanted customers to have ready cash to spend at THEIR locations. If there is cost there then it would be borne by the location and I think these venues paid for the privilege of having ATMs.

We must have had a good many years of ATMs all over the country without these charges. Now suddenly they are whacking $2+ charge on each transaction and claim they are covering costs. Please!

Next you'll be telling me they should be charging for the privilege of withdrawing money directly from the bank. Of course the tellers, labor costs, insurance...blah blah all needs to be paid for right!

Oh lol. If that's your definition of trolling you haven't been internetting enough.

Incorrect about ATM's only being at branches. Some are, not all. There's hundreds of freestanding bank branded ATM's in all kinds of places that need to be refilled and maintained. If you can make that happen for free let me know.

If it isn't their bank they're withdrawing from I wouldn't have an issue with them being charged. Go into an ANZ and try withdraw from your Commonwealth account, see what happens. It's not your money there.

 

[BuggedOut]

I have been internetting enough to know a troll when I see one.

 

[Jislizard]

So charging non-customers to contribute to the maintenance, labor costs, insurance, CCTV, armored truck delivery and other associated costs of a $100k ATM is unjustified?

What a load of sh1te. I see you are trolling me again but I will bite, once only.

Where are these ATMs? They are at bank branches - where all of these costs are present regardless. ATMs were originally put in banks to reduce workload for tellers, thus reducing staffing requirements. ATMs at banks were a savings initiative.

Then the ATMs went into locations like pubs, clubs, racecourses, shopping centres. Why? Because these venues wanted customers to have ready cash to spend at THEIR locations. If there is cost there then it would be borne by the location and I think these venues paid for the privilege of having ATMs.

We must have had a good many years of ATMs all over the country without these charges. Now suddenly they are whacking $2+ charge on each transaction and claim they are covering costs. Please!

Next you'll be telling me they should be charging for the privilege of withdrawing money directly from the bank. Of course the tellers, labor costs, insurance...blah blah all needs to be paid for right!

Oh lol. If that's your definition of trolling you haven't been internetting enough.

Incorrect about ATM's only being at branches. Some are, not all. There's hundreds of freestanding bank branded ATM's in all kinds of places that need to be refilled and maintained. If you can make that happen for free let me know.

If it isn't their bank they're withdrawing from I wouldn't have an issue with them being charged. Go into an ANZ and try withdraw from your Commonwealth account, see what happens. It's not your money there.

Not to mention the mobile ones that turn up at outdoor markets.

My ANZ account which I set up in 2005 would let me have two free withdrawals from an ANZ ATM per month and after that they charged me. That I felt was gouging as I am an ANZ customer and should be able to get my money whenever I want to.

When I use an ATM abroad or one that is not owned by ANZ I accept that they are going to charge me as I am not drawing funds from my own account. I am taking money out of their account and they then have to contact ANZ and get the money reimbursed from my account, or however it works. They are doing me a favour, they could be dicks about it and decide that you couldn't get money unless you were a customer of theirs, but they aren't. They just charge for a service, which you don't have to use.

 

[Caput Lupinum]

He's a leprechaun, not a troll

 

[House]

I have been internetting enough to know a troll when I see one.

Considering it's the first time I've ever been called a troll, I feel a bit special

 

[BuggedOut]

Only a troll would be proud of being called a troll.

Maybe you weren't self-aware previously.

 

[JulieW]

Careful. When trolls become self-aware they send a terminator back to old threads to kill evidence for future arguments.