ATM transactions to cost more this year

 

You might have to pay more for your transactions at ATMs in the new year. Bankers have proposed a reduction in the number of free ATM transaction a month to five — irrespective of whether you are transacting at ATMs of your own bank or those of other lenders. At present, there is no cap on free transactions at own-bank ATMs, while customers can use other banks’ machines up to five times a month without any extra cost. And, there’s more. Bankers have also proposed to a working group on ATM security that the rate for each ATM transaction (interchange fee or charge) be raised from Rs 15 to Rs 18. Interchange fee implies a charge paid by a bank to another for acceptance of card-based transactions. Usually, it’s a fee that a merchant’s bank (the ‘acquiring bank’) pays a customer’s bank (the ‘issuing bank’).