ATM fees blight festive spending
(12 December 2005)

A leading building society has warned that, in the light of last week's figures which showed that ATM transactions should break existing records this Christmas, a more unsavoury record is likely to be smashed in the process.

Nationwide says that over £18 million will be drained from customers' bank accounts by the multitude of machines which charge for use with a typical fee being £1.50.

This equates to a cost of £25,000 per hour or £500,000 per day - simply so that people can access their own savings for the inevitable December rush.

If you only have convenient access to a fee-charging machine, a payday loan may be a better idea than repeatedly paying out to access your savings. Borrowing between £80 and £1,000, and never repaying more than an extra £25 per £100 borrowed, you know where you stand with the more defined and one-off nature of short-term cash.

Stuart Bernau, executive director of Nationwide, said: Christmas is expensive enough without paying to access your own money. All charging machines are required to have clear warnings, so ATM fees are an unnecessary cost that can be avoided.

People should say no to charging cash machines and make ATM fees a ghost of Christmas past.

If you feel that you're at risk of being charged every time you withdraw cash this Christmas, safeguard your savings with a cash advance, repayable upon your payday.


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