ING DIRECT Australia says no to ATM fees
ING Direct Australia has put an end to the country’s most hated bank fee. It offers a debit card with free automated teller machine (ATM) access anywhere in Australia when AUD1,000 is deposited per month.
ATM fees most hated bank fees
Research conducted by Galaxy shows ATM fees aggravate Australians more than any other bank fee including account keeping fees, credit card fees and international charges. The research also shows ATM fees top the list (38 percent) of most hated bank fees. 96 percent of respondents felt angry or inconvenienced by ATM fees with 82% going out of their way to avoid the charge.
“Australians find ATM fees annoying and we have found a way for customers to avoid them completely no matter which ATM machine they use”, said John Arnott, Executive Director Customer at ING DIRECT.
Creating new alternatives
“Since launching in 2010, the Orange Everyday account has already gained a strong following for not charging a monthly account-keeping fee, offering two-percent cashback on Australian Visa PayWave purchases under AUD100 and now offers a way to avoid paying an ATM fee in Australia - when a monthly deposit of AUD1,000 is made
“ING DIRECT reimburses the fee charged at any of Australia's 30,000 ATMs and as a branchless bank we now offer the best access to the most ATMs Australia wide.” said Arnott.
Australians pay on average AUD1.5 million a day in ATM fees with as many as 40 percent of all ATM transactions occurring at ‘foreign’ ATMs.
“People know they should use their own bank’s ATM but too often it’s just not convenient to do so. It’s a case of people grudgingly accepting the fee but hating it. Now they have an alternative,” Arnott concluded.