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MPs say fee-charging ATMs in the UK hit the poor

February 10, 2005

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The Guardian: Post Office bosses in the United Kingdom were warned Feb. 10 by MPs that they risked undermining efforts to tackle financial exclusion among low income groups following the decision to install fee-charging cash machines in three quarters of the Post Office's branch network.

The Post Office has cash machines in 2,500 branches - 640 of which are free to use, the rest imposing charges of up to £1.50 (U.S. $2.80) per transaction.

Post Office executives giving evidence to the Treasury select committee said they were not in a financial position to subsidize cash machines in branches and left the decision regarding whether to charge to the ATM operators.

The number of cash machines which charge has grown from none in 1999 to almost 20,000, or 40 percent of the total in use.

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