5 Simple Ways To Avoid ATM Fees

Posted on June 17, 2007

ATM fees have to be one of the worst ways to spend your money. It’s pure convenience. With a little planning there is no reason to ever pay an ATM fee again. Bankrate.com lists the current average ATM as $1.64, and continually rising each year. Using out of network ATMs will often cause the user to pay a fee to the ATM company as well as the user’s bank will charge a fee on top of that. It has gotten out of control. When I was in Las Vegas a few months ago the cheapest ATM I could find on the Strip was around $5, and some places even charged a flat 10%. Getting back to Orlando seeing $2 ATM’s felt like a bargain at that point. The Orlando Sentinel Sunday newspaper had an article detailing five simple ways to avoid ATM fees. Here I have paraphrased from the article the five ways to avoid ATM fees:

Go with a ATM fee free bank. I use USAA and they reimburse me for all ATM fee charges up to I think $20 a month. I do not think I have ever maxed it out as I only use ATM’s once or twice a month. Netbank.com and eTrade’s Max-Rate checking account also do something very similar.
Plan ahead when traveling. Inquire about traveler’s checks when on vacation. Also, try calling your bank and having the ATM fees suspended or refunded while you are out of town. You never know, it might work.
Get cash back when you make a purchase. Instead of going to an ATM go to a grocery store or convenience store and make a small purchase to receive cash back. Make it part of your weekly shopping trip to get $20 for the week if necessary.
Avoid the high priced ATMs. Know where the high fee ATMs are and avoid them. It’s mostly common sense: do not use airport, night club, or casino ATMs.
Use an ATM schedule. Find a no fee location and get money each week at that location.