​​Money warning issued for ATM users over free machines, here’s what you need to know

If you are used to free cash withdrawals, you are up for disappointing news.

More note machines will start charging their users to take out the money in the coming months. Find out what you’ll have to pay for each operation in Notemachine and why this change is about to be introduced.

How much will it cost to withdraw money?

A warning has been issued to anyone who uses ATM cash machines as another thousand of them are about to start charging their users.

A further 15% of currently free note machines will force shoppers to pay 65p per operation which is expected to be a blow to the elderly and communities who are reliant on access to cash.

A major cashpoint operator Notemachine explained the cut by the lack of funding. The last time they had to act on limiting access to free withdrawals was in 2018 when they introduced charges in 10% of their previously free-to-use cash points.

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Under current legislation, only a tiny fraction of ATMs are ‘protected’ - receiving the right level of funding to keep them operational on a free-to-use basis. An underwhelming amount of 3,300 cash points are guaranteed to remain free.

Chief executive Steve Makaritis said:

Government legislation protects 'access to cash', but crucially fails to address the broken funding model that is forcing ATM operators to convert.

Unless more funding is given, households will be left with a very small number of free-to-use ATMs.

Will there be any free cash machines left in the future?

The number of other machines that don’t charge has been dwindling over the years.

There were only 39,429 free ATMs in the UK at the end of 2022, according to data from the largest cash machine network, Link.

It comes despite a total of £83 billion being withdrawn from ATMs in 2022, compared with £79 billion the previous year.

Bank branch closures are partly to blame for the disappearance of ATMs, with Lloyds Banking Group and NatWest Banking Group this week announcing plans to shut dozens of bank branches.

NatWest will shut 104 banks, while HSBC intends to wipe out 114 of them - around a quarter of its total sites - in 2023.

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Sources used:

- Mirror: 'Warning to anyone who uses ATM cash machines as 1,000 set to introduce charges'