Bridge and Tunnel Club Blog Home
Bridge and Tunnel Club Blog

The Scourge of Humanity

Before we became preoccupied with the world’s most recent existential threats, the thing that really got our goat were ATM fees. I never got it — by becoming more efficient and saving on overhead and labor costs, banks somehow felt it was reasonable to then turn around and charge their customers more. Suffice it to say, this was bullshit.

Now we hear that as competition among banks locally heats up, Commerce Bank has announced that it will offer reimbursements to its customers for fees incurred while using other banks’ machines, (having already eliminated ATM fees for non-customers):

At worst, customers making a withdrawal from another bank’s machine get hit twice. The bank that operates the machine charges them $1 or more for the service, and their own bank charges the same for their infidelity. That can amount to a 15% premium for a $20 withdrawal. [Commerce chairman Vernon] Hill said these fees always top consumers’ list of complaints.

Commerce has never charged customers for using another bank’s machine. That’s not a first: Washington Mutual stopped two years ago.

But reimbursing its customers for fees charged by rival banks puts Commerce on uncharted ground. It’s no small commitment: Commerce customers paid $40 million in ATM fees to other banks last year.

A publicity ploy? I’ll gladly participate in spreading the word. The other banks must be shamed into abandoning their extortionate fees!

Posted: March 16th, 2005 | Filed under: Consumer Issues
Gold Diggers to Neanderthals: Drop Dead »
« Manhattan Preschool Admissions More Competitive Than Harvard

Recent Posts

  • “Friends And Allies Literally Roll Their Eyes When They Hear The New York City Mayor Is Trying To Go National Again”
  • You Don’t Achieve All Those Things Without Managing The Hell Out Of The Situation
  • “Less Than Six Months After Bill De Blasio Became Mayor Of New York City, A Campaign Donor Buttonholed Him At An Event In Manhattan”
  • Nothing Hamburger
  • On Cheap Symbolism

Categories

Bookmarks

  • 1010 WINS
  • 7online.com (WABC 7)
  • AM New York
  • Aramica
  • Bronx Times Reporter
  • Brooklyn Eagle
  • Brooklyn View
  • Canarsie Courier
  • Catholic New York
  • Chelsea Now
  • City Hall News
  • City Limits
  • Columbia Spectator
  • Courier-Life Publications
  • CW11 New York (WPIX 11)
  • Downtown Express
  • Gay City News
  • Gotham Gazette
  • Haitian Times
  • Highbridge Horizon
  • Inner City Press
  • Metro New York
  • Mount Hope Monitor
  • My 9 (WWOR 9)
  • MyFox New York (WNYW 5)
  • New York Amsterdam News
  • New York Beacon
  • New York Carib News
  • New York Daily News
  • New York Magazine
  • New York Observer
  • New York Post
  • New York Press
  • New York Sun
  • New York Times City Room
  • New Yorker
  • Newsday
  • Norwood News
  • NY1
  • NY1 In The Papers
  • Our Time Press
  • Pat’s Papers
  • Queens Chronicle
  • Queens Courier
  • Queens Gazette
  • Queens Ledger
  • Queens Tribune
  • Riverdale Press
  • SoHo Journal
  • Southeast Queens Press
  • Staten Island Advance
  • The Blue and White (Columbia)
  • The Brooklyn Paper
  • The Columbia Journalist
  • The Commentator (Yeshiva University)
  • The Excelsior (Brooklyn College)
  • The Graduate Voice (Baruch College)
  • The Greenwich Village Gazette
  • The Hunter Word
  • The Jewish Daily Forward
  • The Jewish Week
  • The Knight News (Queens College)
  • The New York Blade
  • The New York Times
  • The Pace Press
  • The Ticker (Baruch College)
  • The Torch (St. John’s University)
  • The Tribeca Trib
  • The Villager
  • The Wave of Long Island
  • Thirteen/WNET
  • ThriveNYC
  • Time Out New York
  • Times Ledger
  • Times Newsweekly of Queens and Brooklyn
  • Village Voice
  • Washington Square News
  • WCBS880
  • WCBSTV.com (WCBS 2)
  • WNBC 4
  • WNYC
  • Yeshiva University Observer

Archives

RSS Feed

  • Bridge and Tunnel Club Blog RSS Feed

@batclub

Tweets by @batclub

Contact

  • Back To Bridge and Tunnel Club Home
    info -at- bridgeandtunnelclub.com

BATC Main Page

  • Bridge and Tunnel Club

2025 | Bridge and Tunnel Club Blog