News

Iowa bank reverses longtime ATM fee policy

December 1, 2003

DES MOINES, Iowa - Bankers Trust Co. of Des Moines, one of Iowa's largest independent banks, will begin levying foreign fees on its customers who use ATMs the bank does not own.

According to a report in the Des Moines Register, Bankers Trust has informed its customers that they will have to pay a $1 per transaction fee starting Jan. 1 if they use ATMs not owned by Bankers Trust more than three times in a month.

Bankers Trust, which owns 37 ATMs, has been a hold-out in the move toward ATM fees; for several years the Des Moines bank used its advertisements to promote its lack of ATM fees.

The bank is making the change to reduce its expenses, according to Senior Vice President Paul Erickson. "We're trying to recoup our charges," he said.

Erickson estimated the new fee will save the bank about $200,000 annually.

By implementing the fee, Erickson said Bankers Trust hopes to encourage more of its customers to use the bank's own ATMs.

Iowa was the last state to prohibit the collection of ATM fees. A federal court ruling against the state's ban on surcharges on ATM transactions in 2002 set off a scramble by some banks -- primarily national institutions like Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank and Bank of America -- to begin collecting surcharges from other banks' customers for use of their ATMs.

(See related stories Longstanding Iowa surcharge ban falls and Iowa will not appeal surcharge decision; banking office allows state banks to collect fees)

The court ruling led to the creation of the Privileged Status network of independent banks and credit unions that own ATMs across the Midwest. Those institutions agreed not to collect a fee from customers of other member institutions when they used ATMs in the Privileged Status network.

Bankers Trust is one of the founding members of Privileged Status and will remain in that network, according to the Des Moines Register.