Automated Teller Machines: Survey Results Indicate Banks' Surcharge Fees
Have Increased (Letter Report, 04/24/98, GAO/GGD-98-101).

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on
fee-charging practices of banks and thrifts with regard to automated
teller machines (ATM) used by individuals who do not hold accounts at
the institutions owning the ATMs, focusing on GAO survey data on changes
over the past year in: (1) ATM deployment by banks in the United States;
and (2) the number of banks that surcharge noncustomers and the amounts
surcharged.

GAO noted that: (1) its survey results indicated that approximately the
same percentage of banks in the United States operated ATMs as of
February 1, 1998, as operated them as of February 1, 1997--just over 70
percent; (2) however, during this 1-year period the number of ATMs that
banks operated increased about 13 percent, to an estimated 132,000; (3)
about 66 percent of this growth was in ATMs located off bank premises;
(4) GAO's survey results also indicated that, for the month of January,
the average number of customer withdrawal transactions per ATM declined
15 percent from 1997 to 1998, while the average number of noncustomer
withdrawal transactions per ATM declined 24 percent during this period;
(5) according to GAO's survey results, the percentage of banks operating
ATMs that assessed surcharges increased from 39 percent as of February
1, 1997, to 64 percent as of February 1, 1998; (6) also, the estimated
number of ATMs with surcharges increased by more than 50 percent during
the same period; (7) GAO's estimates indicated that the average
surcharge fee assessed by banks, including in GAO's calculation the ATMs
without surcharges, increased from $0.69 as of February 1, 1997, to
$1.00 as of February 11, 1998; (8) additionally, the estimated average
surcharge fee, calculated for those ATMs with surcharge only, increased
from $1.17 to $1.27 during this period; and (9) for ATMs with
surcharges, the most typical fee as of February 1, 1998, was $1.50,
compared to $1.00 the previous year.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  GGD-98-101
     TITLE:  Automated Teller Machines: Survey Results Indicate Banks'
             Surcharge Fees Have Increased
      DATE:  04/24/98
   SUBJECT:  Savings and loan associations
             Insured commercial banks
             Fees
             Electronic funds transfer
             Computer networks
             Surveys