Thu 28th Sep, 2006
Students warned to avoid charging cash machines
Nationwide Building Society has urged students to plan their cash withdrawals carefully to avoid expensive charges to withdraw their money. Nationwide’s research shows that half of the 400 cash machines on university and college sites charge for taking money out.
With the average student withdrawing small sums of £10 or £20 a time, a typical fee of £1.50 could be a 15 per cent charge on a £10 withdrawal. Cash machine charges on university and college sites range from 70 pence to £1.85. This can have a significant impact on student finances.
Stuart Bernau, executive director at Nationwide, said: ‘Students need to be particularly alert when they are withdrawing cash as charges to access their own money quickly add up and hit hard in the pocket of people already facing the challenge of making ends meet while they are studying.’
He added: ‘As the number of charging machines grows it is becoming ever more important that all machines that levy charges are clearly marked so that consumers have the choice to avoid these unnecessary fees.’
Nationwide has fought against cash machine charges for some time and all of its cash machines are free to use. There are also no charges for withdrawing cash abroad for Nationwide card holders.