News

Boston banks lose Logan Airport ATMs

August 23, 2012

JP Morgan Chase doesn't have a branch in Massachusetts, but it's about to become the dominant ATM operator at Boston's Logan Airport. And at least one Boston consumer organization isn't happy about it.

According to an article by the Boston Globe, Chase will take over 10 of 31 Logan ATM locations; Capital One will take over three. The Massachusetts Port Authority awarded five-year contracts for the sites in a bidding process.

Bids were selected mostly on price, but Massport also took other factors into account, the article said. The new agreements will net the authority an additional $3 million over the previous $6 million contract.

Massport caps fees for all Logan terminals at $2.50, but more travellers will be paying fees as a result of the new contracts. In the bidding process, some of Boston's largest banks lost sites, leaving customers with limited access (or none at all) to a home bank ATM. For instance, the state's second-largest bank, Providence-based Citizens Bank lost all but one of its five ATM sites.

"The more machines you have from non­local banks, the more likely consumers will have to pay a fee to use them," Edgar Dworsky, a consumer lawyer from Somerville and founder of Consumerworld.org told the Globe.

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