ATM charges in Wendover

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Cashzonethe operators of Budgens ATM are introducing a charge to customers of £1.50 for cash withdrawals. We would be grateful if you could bring this to the attention of your readers, so that they can avoid these unjustified charges. Budgens customers can still get £50 free cash back in store and withdrawals from the Post Office ATM are also free. As you are aware we no longer have a bank in the village and we believe Cashzone are taking this opportunity to exploit Wendover. We also suggest readers contact their MP, local councillor or Cashzone direct to try to persuade Cashzone to reverse these unreasonable charges. The contact details for Cashzone are: Headquarters,PO Box 476,Hatfield,AL10 1DTCustomer Services: 0800 032 1314Email:customersupportteam@cardtronics-eu.com

Reply from Cardtronics received 28 March:

With respect to the article posted on your website, I wanted to provide you some background on the circumstances that have created this situation.

First and foremost, it is important to note that we at Cardtronics have provided access to cash for consumers free of charge for a great many years. Over this period, the costs we incur for the provision of this service was covered by a fee known as interchange which is paid to us by the banks when one of their cardholders uses our machine. On January 1st, LINK, the UK ATM Scheme, introduced the second in a series of cuts to interchange. We are well aware that independent ATM operators such as ourselves often fill the gap left as a result of the banks closing branches and removing their own ATMs, but these cuts have made some of our ATMs unsustainable as a free service.The decision on whether to introduce a fee is taken on a case-by-case basis and reflects the economic viability of the individual machine. Introducing a charge to the machine in Wendover is not one we have taken lightly, but LINK’s cuts have left us with no choice other than to remove the machine altogether.

The LINK cuts are having a major impact on consumers’ access to cash up and down the country and we are calling for immediate intervention from the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) so that we as an industry can find a sustainable long-term solution. We would advise anyone concerned about this to sign the ‘Freedom to pay. Our way.’ petition on the Which? website and speak to their MPs.

Marc Terry, Managing Director, International Cardtronics