ATM usage fees

Brazilian banks have several partnerships in place in order to extend their coverage.

Correspondente bancário (banking agent)

A partnership with an establishment, who then use a small wireless ATM (much like a wireless EFT POS) to process transactions for the bank, such as payments, deposits, and withdrawals. Use of a banking agent normally does not generate any fees. However, fees are assessed if there is excessive usage of the ATMs (i.e. one makes more operations than what's allowed by their monthly maintenance fee).

Interbank network

There are ATM interbank networks such as Banco24Horas that not generate charges fees for use. However, fees are assessed if there is excessive usage of the ATMs (i.e. one makes more operations than what's allowed by their monthly maintenance fee).

Cash withdrawal with a Visa debit card

Brazilian acquirer Cielo (formerly known as VisaNet) offers Visa debit card holders an option to withdrawal a small amount of cash (up to R$100, approx. US$30) when paying for merchandise at any Visa-accepting store. Store owners then hand over the money to the customer at the checkout. While the purchase itself generate fees for the business (like any other credit or debit card transaction), the money withdrawal does not, and is reimbursed in full.

Most Canadian financial institutions are members of Interac, a multi-bank ATM network founded by RBC, CIBC, Scotiabank, TD, and Desjardins Group in 1984. Before the presence of white-label ATMs, most Canadian customers were only charged the standard Interac network transaction fee when a customer was using an ATM not provided by the bank that held their account. As the Interac network was opened up to more independent sales organizations (ISOs) and the potential for additional revenue from service fees were made available, most banks elected to impose the service fee in addition to the revenue that was generated from the Interac fee.[7]

The Exchange is a multi-bank ATM network. It originated in the northwestern United States before expanding to Canada in 1983. As of 2017, many Canadian credit unions, along with The Alterna Bank, Alterna Savings, Canadian Western Bank, Citibank, HSBC Bank Canada, Manulife Bank of Canada, First Nations Bank of Canada and National Bank provide surcharge-free ATM access to members of other participating financial institutions through the network.[6]

In Japan, usually any ATM offers free withdrawal for its respective account holders. Business weekday from morning to late evening means a free transaction (withdrawal, deposit, balance statements, sometimes bank transfers). Beyond this time limit or even on weekends / public holidays, the ATM charges fees to make a transaction.

Cash withdrawals are free for any owner of an Austrian Maestro card at a bank. Some independent ATM's – 67 out of 8,500 as of 2016 – charge a small fee (€1.95 in 2016). By law, a warning is given when a fee is charged.

In July 2016 it was discussed if a law should forbid these fees or the fee must be displayed clearly during the transaction.

Very few, small banks charge an extra fee when one of their own customers uses a different bank's ATM.[8]

Cash withdrawals are free for any owner of a Finnish bank card or Visa Electron cards on ATM brand "Otto." which is the largest ATM network in Finland. There are smaller rivals which have fees. "Otto." ATMs accept also Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Diners Club credit cards. They also belong to Maestro, Cirrus and Plus networks.[9] Fees depend on card issuer. Some banks do charge fees after a given number of withdrawals within a month.[10]

German banks generally charge fees for withdrawals at another bank's ATM, both within the national Girocard debit card/ATM scheme as well as when using a debit card's Maestro or V-Pay facility abroad.

Fees for withdrawals within the Girocard scheme are all implemented as surcharges (direktes Kundenentgelt) which go from €1.95 up to €5.00 or higher[11] and must be displayed to the customer before the money is given out. All ATMs are connected to the national Girocard interbank network. The ATM owners do usually join one of the ATM groups that mutually lower or waive fees, so that customers can withdraw free of charge. The most extensive network of ATMs belongs to the savings banks associations ("Sparkassen") with 24,600 ATMS. Most of the private banks are either member of the Cash Group (7,000 ATMs owned by the major banks) or Cash Pool (2,500 ATMs owned by smaller banks) – they are usually found in city centers. The credit unions ("Volksbanken" and "Raiffeisenbanken") provide around 18,000 ATMs and are associated in the BankCard ServiceNetz, very often in smaller towns and villages, but less frequently available in the big cities. Fees for withdrawing money in the Maestro scheme (outside of Germany, but also at some ATMs at airports in Germany) or with a credit card are charged by the customer's bank and are not displayed during the transaction.

Some German banks such as Deutsche Kreditbank, ING-DiBa and Consorsbank have started issuing complementary Visa cards for cash withdrawals to their customers, in addition to the traditional Girocard. Those issuing banks will absorb the interbank fee that they are obliged to pay to the ATM operator under Visa regulations. Although the cards use the Visa credit card protocols, the funds are taken directly from a linked bank account just as with debit cards, and there are no cash advance fees. As surcharges for cash withdrawals by credit card are uncommon in Germany, almost any ATM in Germany can be used for free cash withdrawals with such a Visa card. This is however not the case of the ATMs of IC Cash, that as of July 2016 charge €6.50 without informing their foreign customers.

Some banks like the ING-DiBa have started requiring their customers to withdraw at least €50 on their own and partner ATMs. This regulation was put in place because banks pay a fixed amount for a withdrawal from an ATM unattached to the amount the customer withdraws. An exception where the regulation does not kick in is if the customer's balance is below the €50 threshold, then they can get as little money as possible.[12]

Section 149 of the Consumer Credit Act, 1995 requires a credit institution to notify the Central Bank of Ireland of every proposal to increase a previously notified charge or to impose any charge in relation to the provision of a service to a customer that has not been previously notified to the Central Bank.[13] Not all ATMs are operated by credit institutions. Third party charges are not subject to this notification process. The government imposes a 12 cent stamp duty fee per ATM withdraw in the Republic on debit/ATM cards charged at the end of a calendar year, capped at €2.50 for cards that have only been used at ATMs and €5.00 for cards used at ATMs and point-of-sale.

Cash withdrawals are usually free for an owner of a Dutch debit card, both within the Netherlands and in the rest of the European Union. Cash withdrawals from another bank in the Netherlands are limited to a maximum of once a day and a lower limit per transaction. The one transaction per day limit generally does not apply to withdrawals outside the country. Up to €2,300 may be withdrawn per cashpoint.

No ATM normally surcharges. However, most major card issuers will levy cash-advance fees unless the client pays a higher annual fee for the card. Some cards have no ATM fees, but these are the exception – like Skandiabanken (Sbanken) Visa and Gebyrfri Visa, both smaller foreign-based banks.

There are few but extensive independent ATM operators in Poland (e.g. Euronet, ITCARD owner of Planet Cash ATM network, eCard, Global Cash) as well as smaller bank-owned networks. Fees depend on inter-bank agreements and are explicitly stated in card contract. Typically withdrawals from own and allied networks are free while from competitor's machines are subject to a percentage (3-4%) with constant minimum fee, e.g. 5 PLN (~$1.4). In 2013 ATM fee for using other domestic machine was decreased to 1.2/1.3 PLN per transaction. Premium accounts often come without any withdrawal fees, albeit at higher recurring cost. As of 2010 many banks offer optional contracts on "free" withdrawals from any ATM at flat monthly fee, usually priced similar to one withdrawal. The maximum amount that can be withdrawn in one operation is usually 30 or 40 notes (~US$1,000), varying with the type of machine, ATM management system and banknote denominations used.

All Multibanco withdrawals and payments in Portugal are free. Recent European Union directives allowed merchants and banks to charge the customers for transactions, but the government approved a law that forbids charging any kind of fees. It is alleged that the Left Bloc and Portuguese Communist Party were the political parties that came up with the proposal and the ones more devoted to the idea.

There are significant variation in charges applied. A card issued by a Spanish bank will normally expect to incur a moderate fee up to €1 on each ATM withdrawal, where the transaction is conducted on an ATM operated and owned by the customer's own bank.

However, outside this situation, there is anecdotal evidence of significantly higher charges being applied where third-party owner/operated ATMs are used, including those operated/owned by other Spanish banks. These may be in reported but unverified cases to be as high as 5% of the value withdrawn.

An effort is currently being made to research, identify and quantify the structure and nature of what, from this anecdotal evidence, appear in some cases to be excessive charges. The case is complicated because the fees can originate from the ATM operator, or/and the customers own bank, for as "processing fees".

In Sweden, most banks issue debit cards for an annual or monthly fee which includes free withdrawals in Sweden and within the eurozone. However, customers are subject to a fee if using a cash machine elsewhere. Some cards from some banks are, however, subject to fees also when used in the eurozone and some Swedish cash machines. Most of these cards are issued by savings banks.

During the 1980s the number of banks and building societies charging issuer fees (i.e. charging fees to their own customers when they used another operator's cash machines) gradually increased. However, in 1990 Barclays announced they were introducing an acquirer fee for all non-Barclays cardholders at their cash machines. This would result in "double charging", where the customer was charged by both their card issuer and the machine operator. Public reaction against this proposal was very strong and a campaign launched by Nationwide Building Society and the UK tabloid newspapers resulted in issuer fees being removed altogether.[14]

Interchange fees remained. These are paid by the card issuer to the cash machine operator to cover the cost of the transaction. Their cost is absorbed by the card issuer and not directly passed on to the end customer.

In 1999 the UK cash machine network LINK opened membership to so-called independent cash machine operators (IADs); organisations which do not issue cards. IADs initially focused on the pay-to-use market, where the customer covers the cost of the transaction directly and this, coupled with a low-cost business model, meant that the number of pay-to-use cash machines rose rapidly, peaking in 2007 at just over 27,000 cash machines.[15]

Most of these machines are in low footfall locations such as convenience shops, garages, nightclubs and pubs. The fee charged in 2005 was usually between £1.00 and £1.50,[16] but occasionally they have been known to charge up to £5[17] and £10.[18]

Rules regarding signage on pay-to-use machines were introduced in 2005 and enhanced in 2006[19] and since 2007 the number of pay-to-use cash machines has fallen. By the end of 2010 there were around 21,000 cash machines.[15]

The large numbers of free-to-use cash machines and the low average number of transactions at pay-to-use cash machines means that 97% of cash withdrawals in the UK remain free of charge. As of 2016, there were about 54,000 free to use cash machines, of which 23,600 were provided by independent suppliers, and 16,000 cash machines that charge for withdrawals.[20]

The Shetab Banking System is an electronic banking clearance and automated payments system used in Iran. The system was introduced in 2002 with the intention of creating a uniform backbone for the Iranian banking system to handle ATM, POS and other card-based transactions. There are no charges for money withdrawal in this network. Transferring money between two accounts in a same bank is free but between different banks costs from 5,000 to 9,000 (for amounts of 50,000 to 30,000,000) per day, and checking the account balance costs IRR 1,000 for other banks' cards. Other services are currently free.

There are three ATM networks in Hong Kong: ETC (HSBC and Hang Seng Bank only), JETCO (all remaining banks) and ÆON. ATM use is free of charge, except when a card is used outside of its respective home network. When a card is used outside the home network, HKD$15–30 is paid for service charge.

In Indonesia, banks generally do not charge a fee for ATM usage. However, when an ATM card is used outside the home ATM network, service charge will apply.

In Malaysia, ATM usage is free of charge but users may be required to pay a fee when used outside the home network and banks charge a fee of RM 8 to RM 24 annually for a normal savings account.

Under Malaysia's Basic Saving Account scheme the fee is waived but the customer is limited to only eight[21] free cash withdrawals, after that, banks will charge a fee of RM0.50 to RM1 for every withdrawal until the following month.

Also, under the Malaysian Electronic Payment System (MEPS), users can withdraw cash from participating banks for a fee of RM 1 per withdraw.[22] Users can also transfer their fund to another bank via IBFT (Instant Bank Fund Transfer) at a fee of RM 0.30 to RM 0.50 or via IBG (inter-bank giro) at RM 0.10 .[23] Another program called HOUSe by locally incorporated foreign banks in Malaysia also have their own network for cash withdrawals from participating banks. Users of local banks are also considered MEPS users by default and users of locally incorporated foreign banks are considered HOUSe users. MEPS users attempting to withdraw cash from HOUSe networks are subjected to a fee of RM 4 and vice versa. Some banks allow cross-border cash withdrawals, but may charge a fee of up to RM 24 per withdrawal, depending on the kind of ATM network users choose.

In the Philippines, there is a ₱200 charge from local banks when using an international ATM card, in addition to the originating bank's charges. HSBC Bank is the only bank in the Philippines without a ₱200 fee for oversea bank cards.[24]

In Thailand, there is no fee for domestic same-bank same-province transaction. However, customers usually pay an ATM annual fee of ฿200, plus a one-off card fee of ฿100 and convenience fee for withdrawal or balance inquiry at other bank ATM or at a province other than the province where the account is opened. On September 23, 2010, the Bank of Thailand (BOT) announced an ATM fee ceiling framework which came into full effect one year later.[25] Most of the banks will allow customer to have four withdrawal or balance inquiry transactions for free provided that the ATM is located in the same province with the account, then charges up to ฿10 per transaction for interbank same-province ATM usage. Inter-provincial fund transfer or withdrawal fees are capped at ฿20 per transaction as a result of BOT 2010 reform.

However, banks are now pushing for high annual fee card by combining personal assurance (PA) into their cards. The annual fee of PA card can be more than three times for the ordinary card (typically ฿200 for a debit card). Many customers are often told that basic cards have run out of stock and they can only choose the PA card. In some cases, customers are not allowed to open an account if he or she is not willing to subscribe to ATM service and pay the card fees.

For a foreign card, the ATM service fee is ฿150 (Aeon Bank), ฿180 or ฿200, depending on the bank. Cash withdrawals in the bank office ("cash advance") typically do not have any fees on top of what the issuer bank may charge.

In Pakistan, banks usually charge a fee of PKR 18.75 (equivalent to 10.5 cents USD) for each non-user's ATM cash withdrawal. These fees are levied chiefly to offset banks' own costs at par only, without any profit margin whatsoever.

There are two ATM networks operational in the country, 1LINK hosted by a consortium of banks, and MNET. All Pakistani banks are members of 1LINK switch as per the mandate of the State Bank of Pakistan, the country's central bank. Some banks, absorb the costs entirely, and offer their customers totally free withdrawals at all ATMs countrywide, including Azad Kashmir.

ATM charges for cash withdrawal from other Bank ATMs (possibly tax exclusive):

• Allied Bank Limited: Rs.18.75 (mid-2020).[26]
• Bank Alfalah Limited: Rs.18.75 with some account types exempt (domestic), international: Rs. 300 or 3% of withdrawal amount, whichever is higher (mid-2020).[27]
• Bank Al-Habib Limited: Rs. 18.75 (domestic), international: Rs. 200 or 2% of withdrawal amount, whichever is higher (mid-2020).[28]
• Habib Bank Limited: Rs. 18.75 with Work Account and Freedom Account exempt (mid-2020),[29] was ~16.5 by end-2019.[30]
• Habib Metropolitan Bank Limited: Rs. 18.75 (domestic), 3% (international) (mid-2020).[31]
• JS Bank Limited: Rs. 18.75 (domestic), international: Rs. 1,000 or 4% of withdrawal amount, whichever is higher (end-2019).[32]
• MCB Bank Limited: Rs. 18.75 (domestic), international: 2% (mid-2020).[33]
• Meezan Bank: Rs.18.75 (end-2019).[34]
• Standard Chartered: Rs. 18.75 (1-Link), Rs. 15 (MNET), 3% (international) (mid-2020).[35]
• United Bank Limited: Rs.18.75 (domestic), international: 0 (Pay Pak), 4.5% (Pay Pak/UPI and all other cards) (mid-2020).[36]

In Sri Lanka banks usually charge a fee of LKR 5.00 (US$0.03) for the users of the bank (which provides the ATM) and LKR 15.00 (US$0.08) to LKR 60.00 (US$0.34) per non user's bank withdrawal of cash from the machine. Most ATMs are connected to the national LankaPay interbank network. If the user used their credit card to withdraw money, banks will charge from LKR 300.00 (US$1.68) to LKR 900.00 (US$5.04) per transaction.

There are multiple ATM networks in Bangladesh. Dutch-Bangla Bank has the largest ATM network and also the most member banks. Dutch-Bangla Bank customers are charged BDT 200 yearly as ATM network charge if one has any debit card of the bank.

Dutch-Bangla Bank has separate agreements with local and international banks whereby Dutch-Bangla Bank charges BDT 10 (US$0.085) per transaction to member banks. Due to this low amount, member banks often add an extra amount as profit margin.

In 2014, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India's central bank and financial regulator, issued a directive on request from large ATM network and card-issuing banks which expressed concern about the growing cost of ATM network operations, large cash outflows, and other problems. In fact, customers of same bank withdrawing more than 5 times in month were sought to be charged. Present directive reduces Free transaction per month from as five to three with revised charges of INR 20 plus taxes levied per transaction as ATM transaction fee.

The number of ATMs, which stood at a little over 27,000 as at end-March 2007, has increased to over 160,000 across the country by end-March 2014. During the same period, POS infrastructure has increased from 330,000 to 1,065,000 terminals. Meanwhile, White Label ATMs (WLAs) have also been introduced in the country with the objective of increasing the ATM density and also building the rural and semi-urban ATM infrastructure.[37]

In 2007, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the country's central bank, had issued a directive to all commercial banks to freeze ATM charges and, with effect from 1 April 2009, abolish ATM service charges altogether. Since 2009, customers of any licensed bank are able to use the ATMs of other banks without paying a service charge. Earlier, banks charged between ₹ 10 and ₹ 35 per reciprocal transaction. A person holding card of other banks can withdraw amount from other bank ATM's but the number of transactions is limited to 5; i.e., on the 6th transaction the person is charged up to ₹ 20.[38]

However, banks can still surcharge for items such as credit card ATM cash advances and at foreign ATMs. In addition, RBI imposes significant foreign exchange restrictions on the use of Indian debit VISA/MasterCard abroad. For example, Indian debit VISA cards are routinely marked "Valid in India and Nepal only" due to the country's restrictive foreign exchange reserve policy.