Latest News

LATEST NEWS (For additional ATM news, see the New Rules project's ATM Surcharge pages.)
Updated 26 May 03

27 May 03 Supreme Court rejects Santa Monica/San Francisco appeal. ATM users now must rely on the Congress to protect them from unfair double ATM surcharges. 25 Oct 02 9th Circuit Backs Banks Over Cities: -- 9th Circuit affirms (link to court decision) lower court's rejection of PIRG-backed ATM surcharge fee bans in San Francisco and Santa Monica. This disappointing decision holds that cities (and states) have no right to regulate unfair fees if imposed by "national" banks. Banks were aided and abetted by Office of Comptroller of Currency, the nation's chief bank regulator, which has dual promotional role that often gets in the way of its analysis of what is good public policy. (17 Jan 02) Attorneys for the cities of Santa Monica and San Francisco, supported by an amicus brief from CALPIRG and other leading groups urged the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to reinstate their local ATM surcharge bans.

1 April 02 NYPIRG report documents rising ATM fees, including new fee when consumers use ATM debit card with PIN. More on unfair debit card tactics here.

Banks Overturn Iowa ATM Surcharge Ban (March 2002): Five national banks -- Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Bank One, Firstar, and Metro Bank -- sued to overturn Iowa's administrative regulation prohibiting surcharges. We've expected this effort for a long time. More news as we get it. Press statement of Iowa PIRG when suit filed in 2001.

NEW (15 Apr 01): See the OCC Watch page on this website for a link to OCC opinion letter #906 to the New York City Council, the latest agency attempt to chill the efforts of states and cities from protecting their citizens better than federal law does.

New PIRG ATM report (3/29/01) documents that surcharging has tripled cost of foreign ATM use in just five years. Consumers paid one fee, a foreign fee averaging $1.01, in 1995, and now pay two fees, a surcharge plus the foreign fee, averaging a total of $2.86. Survey also finds that big banks are leading the way in charging annual ATM card rental fees. See Double ATM Fees, Triple Trouble (Released 29 March 01) USPIRG also released copies of a comment letter condemning proposed rule change by Office of Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) intended to undermine attempts by cities of Santa Monica and San Francisco to reinstate their ATM surcharge bans.

NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL HOLDS HEARINGS: On Wednesday, 6 December 2000, the New York City Council Committee on Finance jointly with the Committee on Consumer Affairs held a hearing on Int. 680, a bill to ban ATM surcharges introduced by Council Speaker Peter Vallone and 34 other councilmembers. NYPIRG consumer attorney Tracy Shelton testified on behalf of the state PIRGs in favor of the proposal. Here is Speaker Vallone's statement on introduction of the bill.

CALPIRG/OTHERS SUPPORT CITIES' APPEAL: CALPIRG and other leading state (California Reinvestment Committee, Consumer Action, Foundation for Consumer and Taxpayer Rights) and national (Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, and U.S. PIRG, national office of the state PIRGs) filed a friend of the court (amicus) brief (pdf) on 6 Nov 00 in support of Appeal of the Cities of Santa Monica and San Francisco to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, seeking to reinstate their ATM surcharge bans. You can also read the motion filed with the brief, which describes the interests of the consumer groups. The groups argue in the brief:

"The Amici have a significant interest in the issues presented in this case because they involve important consumer banking protections and the continuing ability of states to enact such protections. The decision in this case could have an impact on all current and future state consumer laws that involve deposit services and charges. These groups believe that authorities, arguments and policy considerations exist that have not yet been thoroughly addressed by the parties."

BIG BANK ENDS SURCHARGE: In October, one of the nation's largest banks, Washington Mutual, eliminated its surcharge in Western states. Here is their press release. Just goes to show: ATM owners don't need to charge you twice-- they earn enough money on the interchange fee (See graphic "Jane Pays Twice" below).

In April-- national PIRG report documented status of ATM fee rebellion-- here is an HTML version of PIRG's latest report-- "ATM Fee Backlash: Local Rebellions Against Unfair Surcharge Spread" and here is a printable Adobe Acrobat .pdf version. Here is the press release for the white paper. For an up-to-October version of the report's chart of ATM fee battle status, click here.

Along with the report, we've prepared a graphic called Jane Pays Twice that describes how ATM surcharging really works. Here is an Acrobat version for printing: Jane Pays Twice-pdf.

Also, NYPIRG released a new statewide survey (press release) at a City Hall news conference with Council Speaker Peter Vallone, sponsor of ATM surcharge ban legislation. The NYPIRG survey found that surcharging rates in New York, which had lagged the nation largely due to the influence of surcharge opponent and former US Senate Banking Chairman Alfonse D'Amato (R-NY), have now caught up. In 2000, New York ATMs surcharge at a rate of 93%, according to "The Deceptive Double Dip: Four Years After the Surcharge Ban Ends," a NYPIRG report.

Woodbridge, and Newark, NJ are third and fourth cities to ban ATMs: On 15 February 00, the City Council of Woodbridge, NJ voted 9-0 to ban ATM fees. Bankers immediately took the city to court, but the City of Newark is banned surcharges on 10 May and was also taken to court..On November 2, 1999, voters in San Francisco had enacted an ATM surcharge ban by a 2-1 margin!

Iowa Law Still In Effect: On 2 February 2000, the Iowa Attorney General filed a petition, later denied, to the U.S. Supreme Court urging review of the decision by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals that overturned Iowa's Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA). Here is Iowa's press release. Although other aspects of Iowa's ATM regulations were overturned in the lower court decisions, the surcharge ban has not been litigated and the ban is in place.

Seven States File Brief In Support of San Francisco and Santa Monica: On 1 February 2000, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed a brief supporting the cities' appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to overturn the district court's 16 November injunction against the ordinances. California's brief was joined by attorneys general in Connecticut, Iowa, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, West Virginia, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Virgin Islands. Here is General Lockyer's release. Although, as expected, teh Ninth Circuit upheld that injunction and the district court judge, on 3 July 2000, at trial overturned the bans, the cities have now appealed the district court ruling.

New York City Council Speaker Releases Report: Guilty As Surcharged: The report was prepared by the Office of Oversight and Investigation to Speaker Peter Vallone, who is preparing legislation to ban ATM surcharges.

San Francisco Victory: Here's a picture of the 10-foot tall inflatable ATMMonster outside the "Yes on Amendment F" victory party at Josie's Cabaret and Juice Bar in San Francisco on election night, after voters overwhelmingly approved a ban on surcharges by a 2-1 margin!