Thread: Chase hikes non-customer ATM fee to $3

Chase hikes non-customer ATM fee to $3 -- chicagotribune.com

Chase, which leads the Chicago market in the number of branches and automated teller machines, has hiked the fee it charges non-customers to use most cash dispensers nationally to $3, one of the highest surcharges in the industry.

Previously in Chicago, Chase charged $2. In other markets, Chase might have charged non-customers as little as $1.50.

The increase was effective Jan. 13.

"The extensive Chase ATM network is a convenience we provide our customers," Chase spokeswoman Christine Holevas explained. "Non Chase customers pay a fee for that convenience."

The $3 surcharge puts Chase in the upper echelon of non-customer fees.

The average surcharge -- the fee that ATM owners charge nonaccount holders to use their machines -- established a new high in Bankrate.com's fourth consective survey, released Sept. 26, jumping from $1.64 to $1.78.

Forty-three institutions raised their surcharges in the latest survey, while only three reduced them.

The most common fee is $2, but 22 banks in the survey charged more than that.

Bank of America, the nation's second-biggest bank last summer boosted surcharges for non-customers withdrawing cash at most of its ATMs nationwide, to $3 from $2.But cash machines in the Chicago area -- where Bank of America recently bought LaSalle Bank, which had been the city's No. 2 bank in deposit market share -- will escape the $1 hike for now.

Bank of America couldn't be reached for immediate comment on whether it will boost its non-customer surcharge in the currently-exempt Chicago market from $2 to $3.

Chase ranks second in deposit market share, after the combined LaSalle-Bank of America.

Greg McBride, a senior financial analyst for Bankrate.com, which tracks financial rates and fees, wasn't surprised by Chase's move, particularly given Bank of America's latest boost in ATM surcharges in most markets.

"Banks move like a school of fish," he said. "ATM surcharges have marched steadily higher over the past 10 years, and $3 is the newly charted territory," particularly for large banks.

Exempt from the $3 charge are Chase ATMs owned by Cardtronics in Duane Reade drugstores in New York and New Jersey; Speedway stations in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia; Exxon stations in Texas; Walgreens stations in Florida and Texas; QuikTrip outlets in Arizona; and Disney ATMs. Those ATMs continue to charge non-Chase customers a fee ranging from 99 cents to $2.

byerak@tribune.com

Originally Posted by min0 lee

That?

yes