THANK CHRIST: Big Four Banks Finally Ditch Those Eye-Watering ATM Fees

There are few things more insulting than being forced to fork out $2.50 every time you want to use an ATM that doesn’t belong to your bank.

(Okay, maybe having the nation participate in an expensive, unnecessary postal survey in order to vote on the validity of your relationship is more insulting, but you understand the point.)

Paying out the nose just to use an ATM was always a slap in the face, particularly as it usually comes when you’re at your most vulnerable: mid-night out, for example, or while stranded at some backwater petrol station that’s refused to get an EFTPOS machine for the last twenty years because they “don’t trust technology”.

But here’s a tiny piece of good news amid a swirling maelstrom of terror, nuclear threats and very bad Bachelorette contestants: the big four banks, i.e. Commonwealth, Westpac, ANZ and NAB, have all decided to ditch the ATM fees for withdrawals by customers of other banks, after the CBA led the pack with a decision earlier today.

That means that you can use with impunity any of the yellow, red, blue, or other red ATMs and skip the ludicrous $2 tacked on for the privilege of taking money out.

No more ATM fees like this could mean Australians save literally millions of dollars.

Tom Godfrey from customer group Choice said of the change:

With many of us struggling with the cost of living, no longer forking out $500 million to the banks each year to access our own money will be a welcome relief.

Quite. Now go and get some lobsters and pineapples out, and celebrate like you’ve never heard of PayPass.

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