AUSTRALIANS are wasting $627 million a year on ATM transaction fees that can easily be avoided.
Being gouged several dollars each time a transaction is made from an ATM not owned by a customer’s banking institution has seen Australians spend an estimated $627 million in the 12 months until April, RateCity analysis shows.
Laziness is often blamed for customers getting stung with ATM withdrawal charges when they use a machine that is not their own bank’s or one within the bank’s network.
Australian Bankers’ Association’s chief executive officer Steven Munchenberg says not all ATMs are owned by the banks and were instead privately owned.
He says there were ways around being hit with ATM withdrawal fees.
“About half of ATMs are privately owned and not owned by the banks and the fees you pay at the private ATMs can be higher than what you pay at a bank ATM,’’ he says.
“We have seen a change of behaviour, cash out is increasingly with EFTPOS transactions, but about 80 per cent of ATM transactions are banks’ own customers.
“The ($2) fee has remained the same for five or six years and it has not gone up.”
$627 mil 
Geez all those little $2s and $2.50s sure add up don't they?
I have to be desperate to use another bank's ATM or a privately owned one. I go out of my way to use my own bank's and know where they all are in my general run.
