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Flaherty asks banks to justify ATM fees

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bizorky

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Flaherty asks banks to justify ATM fees

OTTAWA — Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says he has asked banks to justify why they charge Canadians fees to withdraw their money from automated teller machines (ATMs).

The Conservative minister raised the matter on behalf of the New Democrats, a party whose backing the minority Tory government may need in order to pass their next budget, expected March, 20.

"I said I'd raise it with the banks, which I have done, and I look forward to their reply," he said yesterday. His comments came the same day NDP leader Jack Layton called on the government to back its proposed ban on ATM fees.

Staff

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They should check out the private ATM's, the ones clearly operated by loan sharks.
 
First time I heard Flaherty mention it - the NDP has been making hay of this all last week. Maybe this is one issue the NDP will use to say that they're working in the minority government.

Some white-label ATMs are largely linked to organized crime. Not only are they very lucrative, they are great for money laundering.

sp (curious, but suspicious of the Dippers lately) marshall
 
Many white label ATMs are owned by the big banks as well.
 
^I would imagine that, if his is so, there may be an issue to be raised by the customers of that bank.
 
I don't have a problem with the private ATM's charging for their use, but I do think the big banks should be granting free access, especially since they're now frequently offered as an alternative to in-branch banking.
 
I'm satisfied with unlimited, free access of a particular bank's ATMs when using it for interacting with your accounts with that bank. This is the arrangement I have now with PC Financial and CIBC bank machines.

What's all the complaining about? I think it's unreasonable for me to expect TD to provide free service to me to access my CIBC account.
 
Maybe the banks should "code-share" their ATMs to provide service where one network is lacking - maybe National Bank (strong really only in Quebec) and Canadian Western Bank would make a great example.

I can live with using another bank's ATM, but if I do, I make it a larger withdrawl than usual - to make that additional $1.50 I'm paying become a smaller percentage of the deposit. For $100, it's 1.5 percent. Not that bad.

I agree that banks should not charge to use their own ATMs - they never charged for teller transactions up to the early 1990s. I don't pay as long as my balance is a certain amount - $2000. This is much harder for someone less well off, then the charges start to really eat up the balance.
 
Excellent alternatives exist. I use PC Financial and PC Mastercard. I don't pay a red cent for either service, and I have a savings account that pays up to 4%.
 
I'm with PC as well. Why would anyone continue to let the big banks rip them off? They're still needed for certain services but for day-to-day transactions, go with PC. No charges and free groceries!
 
"What's all the complaining about? I think it's unreasonable for me to expect TD to provide free service to me to access my CIBC account."

Yes, but there's a problems there. It seems like a bit of a shell game for TD to charge CIBC customers while CIBC charges TD customers. Reciprocal free access would seem much more reasonable to me. Of course, you're much more likely to get double billed than anything. I know CIBC has it setup so that when you go off-network you end up paying two fees, one to the owner of the ATM, and one to CIBC. Drives me crazy to get hit with a $3 charge just to take out $20
 
I work for TD, so having seen a lot of account histories I know how much some people pay for ABM usage.

Depending on one's account you have so many free transactions per month. On the most basic you get 10 transactions, so you could theoretically withdraw from the TD ABM 10 times that month and not get charged for those.
If you're on an unlimited plan, same deal - no charge for using TD machines.

If you don't want to get hit with ABM charges, then use your own bank's ABM's for withdrawls, or like TD has, switch to a plan that gives you unlimited transactions on any ABM machine (though you'll still pay $1.50 to each foreign ABM you use).

I find most of the people getting hit with massive ABM usage fees are students in the 18-22 range. People older than that are usually more careful with their money, and don't incur the charges.
 
I'm sorry. I think anyone who banks with one of the major banks over PC after being presented with the choice is a sucker. If you still want a full service account, you can have an account (maybe with a high enough balance so as to be zero fee) so you can use the bricks-and-mortar bank for some less routine things... but day to day things should be with a bank that doesn't try to fleece you at every opportunity.
 
Can we do something about the "extra" charges levied at the Strip-Club ATM machines? That is the biggest crime over anything the banks charge. 10% or $20 whichever is greater - and I don't even get a lap dance out of the deal.
 
What's all the complaining about? I think it's unreasonable for me to expect TD to provide free service to me to access my CIBC account.
Click to expand...
I think the issue is that you've already paid for the service. The banks set-up the Interac network and your bank fees are supposed to cover the expense of running that network. So an argument can be made that it isn't really about one bank providing a free service to another bank's customers. This is also why such fees aren't levied in the U.S. or the U.K.
 
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