Thanks banks, but you should have done it years ago

IN a matter of hours this weekend the major banks dumped ATM fees, after years of resistance. If it was so easy, why didn’t they do it years ago, asks Sophie Elsworth.

Customers use Commonwealth Bank ATMs. After the bank announced it was dumping ATM fees, the other major banks quickly followed. (Pic: Dan Peled/AAP)

THE dreaded ATM fee that has stung Australians for eight years took just a matter hours to be dumped by the nation’s big four banks.

It was that simple, like dominoes the banks fell — the Commonwealth Bank, then within a space of three hours on a Sunday afternoon Westpac, ANZ and NAB all announced their ATMs would be fee free for any consumer using their machines with an Australian banking card.

The most-hated banking cost — that $2 charge to use a ATM to access your own cash — was no more.

All it took was CBA, a bank under intense scrutiny after being dogged by a series of recent banking scandals, to deliver the win for customers and then like sheep the rest followed.

But it’s no secret Australians are shying away from using cash anyway — the 2016 Reserve Bank of Australia Consumer Payments Survey revealed 52 per cent of payments are made with a card, ahead of cash which makes up 37 per cent.

And during a typical week only 27 per cent of people withdraw cash from an ATM which means less revenue for the banks who have continued to sting customers for accessing their own hard-earned cash.

So while the decision by each of the big four banks to dump fees was a massive win for consumers, it’s come at a time when less people are using cash and more are turning to paying by card.

ATM fees are among customers’ most hated. So if banks were so committed to them, why were they so happy to dump them within hours of the Commonwealth Bank going first this weekend? (Pic: Peter Parks/AFP)

And for the savvy consumers many already have switched to the popular ING Orange Everyday card which allows customers to using any ATM in the country free of charge.

But if all it took was a few hours on a Sunday for the big four banks to dump a fee that earns them $500 million a year, surely it could have been dumped a long time ago?

Not eight years after it was rolled out.

CBA has been attracting headlines recently for all the wrong reasons including scandals in its insurance and financial planning divisions and is facing Federal Court proceedings surrounding money laundering.

But the bank’s latest news is great for consumers and one each of the big four are more than happy to shout out loud.

For customers using CBA ATMs you won’t pay a fee ever again, but for those using the other big banks ATMs you’ll have to wait a few weeks for the change to kick in.

So customers while you should be pleased with the death of the ATM fee it’s a move that has come a little too late.

It should have happened years ago.

I don’t recall ever paying an ATM fee — I detest them and have been lucky enough to have an account that doesn’t sting customers for ATM charges.

But now millions of Australians can finally say the same thing.

@sophieelsworth