The fact that there are so many Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) would seem to indicate that the general public has a need to extract cash from time to time and desires to be able to do so without having to interact with a physical teller. This would appear to be a win-win, because consumers that do not take up the labor of a human being is in the scheme of things, more cost effective than those customers that have to go into the banking facility or engage in such through the drive-through window. This signifies that banking institutions could see ATMs as just being the cost of doing business, but it has to be said, that the structure of fees associated with ATMs would strongly imply that ATM fees are, in fact, predatory in nature. For instance, while many a banking customer understands that when they utilize their own banks’ ATM or a bank that is within their network, or have a relationship with their bank that permits them to be reimbursed for any ATM fees, means that for them, they will not be charged an ATM fee – which for these particular banking customers reflects that their ATM banking experience has all the advantages of being able to conveniently extract cash, without having to pay a noxious fee. On the other hand, there are plenty of other folks, who typically aren’t as savvy or as knowledgeable, who often are not as organized, and further to the point, typically are far less cash-rich, and also they don’t seem to understand the fee structure of a given ATM, except to understand that they will be charged for the usage of an out-of-network ATM, as well as often being charged by their own bank, for having used an out-of-network ATM, signifying that for them to take out as little as $40 or $60 could be costing them $6 or $7 or possibly more in fees.
When it comes to fees, penalties, and other financial charges, banks seem to well understand that for their customers who have financial assets, that the banks aren’t fixated on “nickel and diming” them because they hope that when these same customers desire to get a home mortgage or a car loan, that the opportunity to make some money will be there for them. Those though who lack monetary assets and aren’t the type of credit risk that banks care for are seen then as an entity to exploit, which is why the ATM fee structure is the way that it is so that the poor and unenlightened subsidize those that have money and are knowledgeable.
It would seem that a far better way for ATM fees to be structured would be to be fairer to those who utilize such, in which, the best method of being fair, would be to have a progressive ATM fee structure, in which, quite simply, the more that a person withdraws from the ATM, the higher the overall fee, though the percentage of that fee, would still be considerably lower than someone withdrawing just $40. That way, the person who needs to get a little bit of cash for a planned transaction isn’t charged a fee which amounts to something like 20%, but would instead pay no more than 5%; whereas somebody taking out a larger sum, such as $300 would pay a much larger monetary fee, though the percentage would only amount to something like 1.5%, which seems not only to be fair to all parties, but would still permit the banking institution to get fees from that ATM, but at a far more reasonable level