Watch Out For Hidden ATM Fees When Withdrawing Money

Banks use fancy words like surcharges and transaction fees when you use an ATM that is not owned by your bank. But here is one charge you can bank on. Using another bank's ATM can cost you $3 or more.

One ATM user says the banks make enough money as it is.

"I feel like this is another way for them just to generate more revenue."

The question becomes who gets your money when you get this surcharge?

Let's say you have to pay $3 for using another bank's ATM. The bank that owns the ATM gets $1.50 for the privilege of using its machine. In addition, your own bank also charges you $1.50.

"It seems almost like double jeopardy," says another ATM user who does not like the way the banks can charge an extra fee.

Studies show that when someone uses another bank's ATM, it costs that customer's bank no more than 50 cents for the transaction.

David Stevens, a consumer banking manager, says the banks need to charge $1.50 to keep the ATM network running.

"There's data lines that have to be dedicated to the machine, and not just regular phone lines," Stevens said. "Then you have to pay somebody to service that machine every day, and be there should that machine go down, 24 hours a day, so it's very costly."

According to the General Accounting Office, banks make about $2 billion a year in surcharges for ATM transactions. That does not even count the money you pay your own bank for using another bank's ATM.

In the end, this "double-dipping" issue will likely end up in front of the Supreme Court.