Hidden ATM Charges

I published an article about hidden ATM charges when traveling out of the country. (See article – June 12, 2007, Travels With Sheila) and was surprised to read a similar article in Sunday’s Chicago Tribune Newpaper on the same subject.

A staff reporter for the Los Angeles Times, wrote about the new 3% surcharge on ATM use in a foreign country. This means that every time you travel out of the country (it could be Mexico, for example) and wait for the ATM machine to chug out some foreign currency, your bank will add an additional 3% on this exchange.

Our bank, Chase Bank, initiated this new policy May 1, 2007 but unlike the L.A. Times report that his bank broke-out the charges on his statement, Chase Bank did not. We only found out about it when husband called the bank to see what the conversation rate, Euro to Dollar, had come out to.

Something is wrong with this picture…. Aren’t the banks making enough money without adding another fee for the privilege of letting us withdraw our own money?

We did check around and opened up a new checking account with a different bank who assured us there wouldn’t be any additional ATM charges. We’ll see…

In the meantime, watch out for this new 3% charge…