Allpoint expands New York presence with credit union agreement

Allpoint Network today announced that it has signed a long-term contract to provide surcharge-free ATM access to members of the Actors Federal Credit Union in New York.

The credit union's 17,000 members, who are actors, stagehands, ushers and wardrobe personnel, will have surcharge-free access to 215 ATMs in New York City's five boroughs and in Yonkers, N.Y., Steve Sobotta, the credit union's marketing director, tells ATMmarketplace.com.

Allpoint signed the agreement with the financial institution because the network is always looking for new locations, said Ben Psillas, president of the Bethesda, Md.-based ATM network.

"We want quality locations and frequent locations," Psillas tells ATMmarketplace.com.

The majority of the credit union's ATMs are deployed in McDonald's restaurants. In Manhattan, McDonald's are located on nearly every block, Psillas says. "New York City is an important market for Allpoint," Psillas said. "Adding surcharge-free ATMs at high-profile locations retail locations, such as McDonald's drives value for our member institutions, and the 25 million cardholders they serve."

The credit union selected the fast-food chain as a location for its ATMs because the restaurants are clean, well-lighted and close to subway stops, Sobotta says. The credit union deployed the balance of its ATMs in mom- and-pop stores, he says.

Actors Federal Credit Union owns the ATMs, and the credit union joined Allpoint's network, the nation's largest with 37,000 machines in the United States, United Kingdom and Puerto Rico. When a credit union member swipes his ATM card, Allpoint's logo will appear on the ATM's screen, Psillas said.

Allpoint, which is owned by Cardtronics Inc., a Houston-based ATM independent sales organization, now has 2,500 surcharge-free locations in New York, but Psillas is not sure that is enough. "New York has so many people you are never sure you have enough ATMs to serve them," he said.

Actors Federal Credit Union also is a member of Select-A-Branch, an ATM network based in King of Prussia, Pa., and Co-op Financial Services, a surcharge-free ATM network for credit unions based in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. Twenty-eight thousand ATMs nationwide participate in the Co-op network.