ATM fees are not necessarily as pesky and unfair as they are made out to be. But they are pricey. A single transaction incurs two charges – one from your bank and one from the foreign bank – that can easily add up over a year. Here are ways to avoid donating your money to fees and conserving your cash.
1. Understand your bank
With all the bank mergers of late, you may have looked over the possibility access to more ATMs. If you are a Wells Fargo customer, you can now use Wachovia’s ATMs. If you are with a credit union, you may be able to access other ATMs that are part of the Allpoint network.
2. Take out more
Some people withrdaw $40 at a time, leading them to make frequent trips to an ATM machine. Everyone has their own reasons for this but if you can afford to take out more, the fee will make a smaller impact. One $4 fee for withdrawing $120 is better than $12 for three separate $40 withdrawals over a short period.
3. Go shopping
If you can’t find your bank’s ATM anywhere, opt to go to the grocery store or convenience store and use the free cash-back option. That said, hopefully, you’ll buy something you already need that won’t go to waste or cancel out your savings.
4. Open another checking account
If you’re a perpetual collector of ATM fees, you may want to consider opening another checking account that gives you free ATM access everywhere like Charles Schwab’s high-yield checking account. Even international ATMs are covered.
5. Plan ahead
If you know you’re going to an event, check in advance if it’s at a “cash only” establishment or if you have to pay cash at the door. Being mindful of your expenses will give you time to make sure you have enough cash on hand. Also, if you know you’re running low on cash, it would be a good idea to start using your card so you can reserve the cash for an occasion where you would absolutely need it.
6. Just ask
If you’re only planning to be out of town for a short time and will not have access to your bank’s ATMs, you can try calling your bank and ask them to waive the fees temporarily.
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Understand your bank OR Credit Union!
Many Credit Unions are part of large Surcharge Free ATM networks like Allpoint (37,000 locations) www.allpointnetwork.com, COOP (25,000 locations) http://www.co-opfs.org, MoneyPass (15,000) www.moneypass.com which allow you more locations than some of the largest banks!
Remember to check the details of the Checking accounts that allow you unlimited Free ATM withdrawals there is usually a catch. If you do not maintain a balance or perform enough debit card transactions you could receive a large fee.
Check out www.freeatms.org for more information.
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