Customers charged at 25% of UK cash machines

Over one in four cash points in the UK are charging people to withdraw their money, marking an almost 40.0% increase in the number of such automated teller machines revealed Which?.

Around 15,277 ATMs now charge fees – a quarter of all the cash machines in the UK.

In its latest study on Friday, the group revealed that cash machines which force customers to pay were arriving even as lenders were saving millions after having closed 8,700 free cash machines and 1,203 branches over the past two years.

Fees for withdrawing cash topped £104.0m last year, up £29.0m on 2018, according to data from Link, the national cash machine network.

Thanks to the charges on customers, the bill being footed by banks dropped 17% from £686.0m in the year before to £564.0m.

And ATMs that charged a fee were being used more often, over 73.0m times in 2019, 27.0m more than the year before. According to Which? that was in part because there was no alternative as a result of the mass closures.

Gareth Shaw at Which? said: “Banks must take greater responsibility for ensuring customers are supported to make the transition to digital if branches close and that those who are reliant on cash are not left behind by changes to the banking landscape.”