Which? finds free-to-use ATMs are disappearing

A recent study by Which?, a registered charity, found that approximately 1,700 ATMs (in the first three months of 2019) were charging customers for their withdrawals.

The chargeable fee is not the same for all ATMs, by looking between January 2019 and March 2019, the chargeable fees that ATMs (in the study) were using was at least £0.95 per withdrawal. On the other hand, some machines in the study were found to be charging between £1.50 and £1.99 per withdrawal.

Moreover, these withdrawals fees are predicted to rise.

Possible explanations for this rise, point to recent pressure that cash machine operators are going through. Interchange fees, which is how British ATMs and their operators are funded, are being cut. Therefore, in order to keep their services available and turn a profit, companies such as Cardtronics and NoteMachine are starting to convert their machines into chargeable ATMs.

Cardtronics is the UK’s biggest cashpoint operator, and they have stated that they are likely to convert up to a thousand of their machines to charge fees in the coming months.

On a similar note, NoteMachine are considering converting up to 4,000 of their machines to charge fees.

Despite the study's alarming findings, there are still around 52,000 no-fee-per-withdrawal cash machines in the UK. However, if trends continue as they are and companies such as Cartronics and NoteMachine turn their considerations into actions, this could mean that the UK would lose 13% if its free ATMs in a couple of months.