Woolwich customers face £1 fee at ATMs

Woolwich, which controls one of the largest networks of non-branch based machines in Britain, admitted yesterday that it was considering going back on promises to offer free access to its entire network of automated teller machines (ATMs) from January.

Woolwich, which controls one of the largest networks of non-branch based machines in Britain, admitted yesterday that it was considering going back on promises to offer free access to its entire network of automated teller machines (ATMs) from January.

Customers of the Woolwich may be forced to carry on paying charges of £1 every time they use one of more than 2,000 cash machines located in remote areas under a change of plan being considered by the bank.

Woolwich sponsors the machines, which are provided by companies including Euronet and Moneybox that make and service ATMs. At the moment all users of this network pay a significant fee. But, Woolwich had said that from January its own customers would no longer be charged for using these machines.

However, Woolwich is considering ending its relationship with the providers, which would lead to charges being levied on its four million customers, as they would not enjoy any different status from other ATM users."

Until now, Woolwich has sponsored the roll-out of some of these machines because the companies could not directly join Link, the UK cash machine network. But this policy is being reviewed following a change of the Link rules in the summer.