Punishing Cash: US ATM Withdrawal Fees Soar To All Time High

Tyler Durden's picture

With the world’s central planners (and their status quo hugging cronies) calling for cash bans (and rather ironically helicopter money at the same time), the soaring costs of getting one’s own money appears to be a quiet form of capital control creeping up on the distracted American public. As WSJ reports, the average cost for using an automated teller machine that isn’t tied to a customer’s bank rose to a record $4.52 per transaction (with average “out-of-network” cost tops $5 and can rise to as much as $8 in some places.)

 

As The Wall Street Journal reports,

The average cost for using an automated teller machine that isn’t tied to a customer’s bank rose to a record $4.52 per transaction over the past year, according to a survey from data provider Bankrate Inc. that will be released Monday.

 

In Atlanta and New York, the average “out-of-network” cost tops $5 and can rise to as much as $8 in some places under certain circumstances, Bankrate said.

 

The new average rate reflects an increase of 21% over the past five years.

 

 

“Someone has to pay to maintain these ATM networks, and so that burden is falling on the noncustomers,” says Greg McBride, senior financial analyst at Bankrate.

Average fees vary by city largely because big national banks price differently depending on the market, while local banks may have unique pricing plans.

In addition to Atlanta and New York, the Bankrate survey found that cities with the highest ATM fees include Phoenix at $4.88, Miami at $4.84, and Milwaukee at $4.78.

 

 

The lowest ATM fees were in San Francisco, Cincinnati at $3.86, Kansas City at $4.01, Dallas at $4.11 and Seattle at $4.21.

*  *  *

While this is not a direct capital control, it is clear that the “tax” on accessing your own money is rising rapidly, and as we noted previously,

The benefits to banks and governments by eliminating cash are self-evident:

  1. Every financial transaction can be taxed
  2. Every financial transaction can be charged a fee
  3. Bank runs are eliminated
In fractional reserve systems such as ours, banks are only required to hold a fraction of their assets in cash.  Thus a bank might only have 1% of its assets in cash. If customers fear the bank might be insolvent, they crowd the bank and demand their deposits in physical cash. The bank quickly runs out of physical cash and closes its doors, further fueling a panic.
The federal government began insuring deposits after the Great Depression triggered the collapse of hundreds of banks, and that guarantee limited bank runs, as depositors no longer needed to fear a bank closing would mean their money on deposit was lost.
But since people could conceivably sense a disturbance in the Financial Force and decide to turn digital cash into physical cash as a precaution, eliminating physical cash also eliminates the possibility of bank runs, as there will be no form of cash that isn’t controlled by banks.
While the benefits to banks and governments of banning physical cash are self-evident, there are downsides to the real economy and to household resilience.

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TE
TE

It is so coming.

I expect cash will be “phased out” right around the time the stock market crashes, junk bonds blow up and 401(k)s are stolen, ‘er protected by being converted to government bonds. Maybe we will even be given the “choice” of banking, insurance or healthcare bonds!

Once our private retirement savings are “helped,” and our savings accounts are “borrowed” or “one-off taxed” by the banks/government to save the banks from their continued horrible bad bets, then the path is clear for taking cash away.

Knowledge is power IF you choose to do something with it. Sadly, most won’t.

Anonymous
Anonymous

My bank doesn’t charge its customers anything for using their own ATM’s.

I don’t find it hard to plan ahead and draw my cash needs from there.

I’ve never paid an ATM fee, I organize my life so I don’t need to.

Chicago999444
Chicago999444

There is no “conspiracy” to end cash here. In fact, ATM owners LOVE cash, because they can make people pay dear for it, who are too lazy and unable to plan, to be bothered to search out their own bank’s ATM that they can use for free.

As it happens, I’m looking to get into ATM ownership. I’d like to have a fleet of them in convenience stores and restaurants, and undercut the competition by charging a “reasonable” fee of, oh, $2.50 to lazy dumbasses who don’t think ahead. Convenience stores, bars, and restaurants are GREAT places to place them- you pay the business owner a commission, charging what you need to cover that plus the cost of the machine.

kokoda
kokoda

Store some cash at home (safe or in pvc sealed pipe buried outdoors).
Always carry cash on your person
Pay in cash when and wherever possible
Use credit cards sparingly – I try to use mine only to fill gas tanks (NSA is pissed at me).

like Anon, my bank doesn’t charge for using their ATM’s; I would move my accounts to another bank if they did charge.

Maddie's Mom
Maddie's Mom

and don’t make too many withdrawals in one quarter from your savings account

$10 fee for each withdrawal over the limit

I know!….how about just ONE withdrawal..

And ONE deposit in the credit union.???

Pigs.

Dutchman
Dutchman

It’s a convenience. I’ve never found it difficult to get money from my bank’s ATM.

The customer can pay with his debit card (which is the ATM card) – and doesn’t have to withdraw cash.

Dutchman
Dutchman

That’s nothing – Minneapolis is turning into the SanFran Sicko of the Midwest. If you think ATM fees are bad – what’s this going to do to prices:

Minneapolis officials are proposing that every business in the city be required for the first time to give all of their workers paid sick leave and set all of their work schedules at least 28 days in advance.

Under the emerging plan, which would be the most far-reaching in the nation, businesses that failed to meet that time frame also would have to pay the employee extra, including at least four hours of pay if a schedule was adjusted within 24 hours of a shift.

City officials who support the new rules say they are necessary because the lack of access to sick leave, coupled with increasingly unpredictable on-call schedules, keep people in poverty.

But many business owners are furious and aggressively launching an all-out campaign to urge councilors to stop the proposals from becoming law, or least scale them back. Dayna Frank, owner of the downtown music venue First Avenue, said the plan is so burdensome and unworkable that it is almost begging businesses to move to other nearby cities.

“It almost feels like this was written by the city of St. Paul,” she said.

The growing pushback follows months of intense lobbying by low-income workers’ groups who have turned out in droves to rally at City Hall and outside fast food restaurants, a downtown bank and Target Field. They have won favor from the mayor and many on the council, who are proving increasingly willing to take on the issue of economic disparity.

http://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-business-say-workers-agenda-would-hurt-the-city/330532891/

OutLookingIn
OutLookingIn

Why the “War” on cash by TPTB? Here’s why;

Actual physical cash supply amount – $ 1.36 Trillion

“Digital” (ledger numbers) so-called “cash;”

Bank accounts – $ 10 Trillion
Stocks – $ 20 Trillion
Bonds – $ 38 Trillion
Derivatives – $ 220 Trillion

As you can see if there was a “run” into physical cash, the available supply would very soon dry up. People become very, very angry, when told they can’t have their cash because there isn’t any!

Besides, the TPTB want everyone to carry their “entitlement card” so that every financial transaction can be tracked and taxed accordingly. For our own “safety” and “security” by the way!
Not too large a step from here to go to an RFID chip implanted under your skin, or a bar code tattooed on you. Maybe a tattoo something like the NAZI’s used in concentration camps before and during WW II Ever wonder about the prolific number of tattoo parlors springing up?

John Coster
John Coster

An overlooked aspect of this cashless society is the ridiculous assumption that the electronic infrastructure is impervious to widespread failure. The financial elite who direct modern society are not exactly endowed with the wisdom of the ages.

bb

Good to have cash just in case you get mugged . Read an article about a guy that got mugged . The mugger shot him because he didn’t have any cash.

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