Am I making this up? ATM charges around 1999

[gregdaviesiswonderful]

Having a disagreement with DH who thinks I'm making this up. It is entirely possible that I've misremembered this so wanted to check!!

Around the time I was at university (1999-2002) I was with NatWest who had a bank on campus.

I started off getting money out at various cash points around town as there was only a NW branch on campus, not in the local town.

Now, this is where I'm not sure my memory has failed me.... I distinctly remember after a term realising that every time I used a non NatWest ATM, I was charged (I have £10 flat fee in my head but this seems too much).

I remember my parents sitting me down and pointing out that I had spent over £100 just in charges to get money out as there wasn't a NatWest ATM in town.

So from then on in I always got money out on campus before heading into town for a night out.

My DH says this is bollocks and although atms have always had some that charge, there was never a time when bank 'brands' charged for not using their ATMs and the charges were minimal and hoc depending the machine you used.

Sooooo...
YANBU: I remember this also being the case
YABU: As DH says, charges have varied but not for the reasons you state.

YANBU I definitely remember this too. I thought it was about £2.50 though or maybe £5?

And I still only use barclays if I’m in town rather than hsbc.

And yes, it's totally different to the charges that still exist when you use a standalone cash machine that's not attached to a bank. What you're referring to was a charge from High street banks who were making you cover the admin cost of them getting the money back from your own bank

I am old enough to remember the days when you had a separate ATM card and cheque card. You could only withdraw cash from your own bank network. When banks began to 'link' up, you could withdraw from any bank in the network, but would be charged for using other bank' networks atms. It was around £2 a transaction I think. I also remember when you only had free banking if you kept an average of £50 in your current account. Below that , you paid a fee for every cheque you wrote, as well as paying for the chequebook itself - I used to have the picture cheque books as I decided they were a bargain when compared to the cost of a plain cheque book.

YANBU I remember how great it was when I no longer had to go to my specific bank or one with a switch symbol when these were introduced. About this time, cashpoints started to appear at supermarkets.

I used to work for NAtWest in the mid 90s, I don’t recall atm charges but I remember if you tried to withdraw money over the counter from a branch where you account was not held you were charged £5 per transaction.

Yes, it did seem like a complicated system. If you card was link card it could use all machines with the logo for free but certain banks had agreements with others. To be safe I only used my banks atm.

I remember it being £1.50

I remember that there were charges for using an ATM that wasn't your bank's or that didn't have a reciprocal agreement with your bank. I vaguely remember Natwest and Ulster bank having some such agreement - not that that helped on a practical level.

I don't remember it being as much as £10, but I do remember it being enough that I wouldn't pay it and would go to my own bank's ATM to avoid it.

This would have been in the 1990s.

YANBU
there were a few banks grouped together whose machines you could use for free but otherwise yes, actual bank ATMs would charge like £1.50 to withdraw cash. I remember when it stopped and they all became free (apart from the ones inside corner shops etc)

I remember this - other way for me. Hsbc customer getting charged £1.50 a go

Was it on your credit card? They charge you to take cash out of a machine

YANBU my bank definitely did this, its taken me 20 years to convince my mum she can withdraw money from any cash point as her bank used to fo it too.

Omg yes! I had a natwest student account and definitely remember this.

Also - slight tangent - natwest cash machines used to dispense fivers but the others didn't (at least at my university).

YANBU. As a PP said Barclays/Lloyds together and Midland/Natwest together. Not sure about TSB. I could only use Barclays or Lloyds ATMs without incurring a charge. Nothing to do with credit cards.

I remember nights out at university in the 90s where everyone would briefly go their separate ways to go to their respective cash points, all down the same street. We’d then reunite with our £20s for a night out. I seem to remember that if you had NatWest you could use Midland (now hsbc) free of charge. Same for Lloyds and Barclays. Quite a lot of students would choose whatever bank was on campus to avoid withdrawal fees.
I vaguely remember some controversy where all banks were going to charge, unless it was literally their own, but it didn’t result in that happening, or not for long.

Yes, I remember this. I think it was about £1.95. I seem to recall as a NatWest customer I could also withdraw cash from HSBC and TSB (or Halifax - can’t remember which!) free of charge but everything else you were charged.

I remember moving my current account to the bank with the cash machine nearest my house around 1997 for this reason.

My brother used to get £10 out every day at the station on his way to work and get charged the £1.50 fee for not using his bank's ATM every time. We all say him down to explain that he was spending an extra £7.50 a week to do this and to get the whole lot out in one go if he had to use that ATM at all but he refused as that was his routine.

Banks definitely charged you to use other machines back then.

Yes we were with Abbey and there was only a Barclays at DH's work, that charged £1.50

He thought he was being frugal taking £10 out several times a week. I had to point out over a month the charges added up and he would be better taking more out but once a week

I got a NatWest account in 1984 as my uni had a NatWest branch on site and an ATM. No right minded student would use Barclays because of their investments in South Africa. (Our student bar was the Mandela.) We could use Midland ATM as well, but not Lloyds or Barclays. Everyone called an ATM a ‘cash point,’ I still do.

I'm Barclays and I remember the nationwide one near the club we used to go to used to charge about £1.75

I had totally forgotten this! But yes you had to use your banks cash point

£1.50 charge I seem to remember. We were being charged to withdraw our own money. Alas, it wasn't a horrible dream op x

YANBU

I'm not sure it was as much as £10 a time but it did vary between banks and type of account.