SHAIMAA EL-GHAZALY
The Concordian (Concordia University)

MONTREAL (CUP) — If you’re as careful with your money as I am, you will choose to walk some distance to find your own bank’s ATM in order to avoid being charged fees just to access your own funds.

However, there are days when the weather is horrible, or you don’t have time, or there are just no ATMs from your bank within walking distance. That’s when you’ll find yourself staring at the ATM, annoyed with the fees. These fees are unfair because they disproportionately hurt low-income individuals like students.

ATM fees come in different forms. When you use an ATM of a bank that is not yours, you are charged convenience fees. The amount can go up to $2 per transaction. When you use an ATM that belongs to a private operator, the convenience fees can go up to $5 per transaction. Then, your bank charges you service fees that can go up to $1.50.

Some people say it is not much, and that might be true for transactions of $100 or more. But for the average student, charges up to $6.50 on a $20 withdrawal just to get some food are a pain.

The fact that banks make as much profit off of small transactions as large transactions hardly seems reasonable. Service fees, including those charged at ATMs, made up six per cent of Canadian banks’ profits in 2010. It is a large sum considering that the net income of the six largest Canadian banks was $14.3 billion in 2009. Sure, eliminating ATM fees might reduce their profits, but it is a tiny amount compared to how much money big banks make. Bank profits increased at all of Canada’s major banks by an average of 29 per cent in 2010 (compared to 2009); surely they can afford to give people a break at the ATM.

“If people want to avoid paying those fees, they should use their own bank’s ATM machines,” said Adrian Rotaru, a CIBC customer service representative.

The issue with that type of thinking is that it doesn’t take the elderly and the disabled into consideration. That type of reasoning puts them at a disadvantage due to possible limitations of how far they could travel in order to get money. It does not take into account the fact that sometimes your bank’s ATMs are not available.

Most banks have student and senior plans without monthly banking charges. Therefore, banks should do the same concerning ATM fees.

As for private operators, whose main goal is to make profit, there should be some government intervention to limit the amount of money they can charge. It is understandable that private operators install these machines in order to make money, but to make a 30 per cent profit on a $20 transaction is exploitation.

If more people were to voice their discontent, perhaps something could be done. It might not make a huge difference for banks to eliminate those fees, but every dollar would definitely matter to students.

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Graphic: Sean Kershaw/The Concordian