What is ATM Transaction Fee?

An ATM Transaction Fee is one of the service charges that are associated with the family of secondary features offered by your credit card. Access to an ATM is not necessarily guaranteed or common with all credit cards, so companies that offer it may add a charge as well.

Many people are likely to agree that credit cards can be very convenient. While they can truly help you to purchase the things that you need or want without the burden of carrying cash, they also provide several other features that many consumers appreciate.

ATM Access And Cash Advances

One of the most common secondary features of all credit cards is the ability to get cash advances from banks and ATMs all over the world. This is, obviously, an extremely convenient option since there are times when paying with cash is preferable. Credit card companies know this so rather than you put their card away and break out the card for your bank account, this feature makes cash accessible from your credit card.

Obviously, like most auxiliary credit card features, it is very likely that you will pay an ATM transaction fee every time you extract cash from your credit card account. Basically, this is a service charge that helps the credit card company pay for the maintenance and man hours associated with this aspect of your account.

Travelling Overseas And Foreign Exchange Fees

ATM access is also something that is extremely convenient when you need cash overseas. Many credit cards these days have the ability to provide cash to you no matter where you are in the world. However, you will need to remember that this could be quite costly as you could end up paying:

• Cash advance fee
• ATM Transaction fee
• Foreign Exchange fee
• Various other service charges.

Knowing this, though, you can plan to bring some exchanged money with you as well as traveller's checks and then rest easy knowing that if you need emergency cash, you can always rely on your credit card.

How To Avoid The Atm Transaction Fee

It should seem obvious that the way to avoid the ATM transaction fee is to avoid getting cash advances from automated teller machines. However, you may want to observe the fine print, because this fee could also be associated with PIN-based transactions as well. Some people like to use their credit card as a debit card and punch in their PIN when making a purchase instead of signing for it. While the PIN is quite convenient, it does cost merchants money and because of that you may be responsible for a fee. This is not common to all card providers, though, but something of which you should be aware.

Conclusion

The ATM Transaction fee is a service charge that gives you access to convenient cash when you need it, no matter where you might be in the world. You do not have to use this feature of the card, and thus can avoid the fee if you choose.