ATM-Owning Banks Earn $4.3 Billion As Surcharges Hit Record High

ATM-owning banks are earning $4.3 billion annually on charges they levy on transactions cardholders perform on so-called foreign machines?ATMs owned by banks where the cardholder is not a customer, according to a semi-annual study released today by Bankrate Inc., North Palm Beach, Fla., an aggregator of financial data. The average ATM transaction surcharge?which the ATM deployer levies on foreign transactions–is $1.54, according to the study, up 14 cents, or 10%, from the average found in Bankate's spring survey. That's a record high for surcharges, Bankrate says. Meanwhile, the average charge assessed by the cardholder's bank on the same transaction has reached $1.37, another high, yielding an average charge to the consumer of $2.91 per foreign transaction. Some 96% of ATM-owning banks now levy surcharges, another record, the study says. Among all banks that own ATMs, some 82% assess surcharges of $1.50 or more. At the same time, among banks that issue ATM cards, 69% charge $1.50 or more on foreign transactions. Bankrate surveys the leading banks and thrifts in the 25 largest banking markets twice a year to produce its checking study, of which the ATM data are a part.