Automatic Teller Machines are an increasingly important part of banking, especially on college campuses.
Laura Pratt, marketing manager at the Ohio University Credit Union, said 66 to 70 percent of the credit union's transactions are electronic and done by computer, ATM and telephone.
Our credit union is one of the highest for using online services
Pratt said, citing electronically savvy people in the university environment and a high number of transactions from students who make many small withdrawals.
Despite their convenience, ATMs can bring problems from captured cards to broken machines.
Customers' cards have an account number on the magnetic strip to help auto route any deposits to the home bank after a personal identification number is entered, said Crystal Ward, card services supervisor at the credit union.
If the PIN is incorrectly entered in the machine three times, the ATM puts the card in a holding compartment. This is the most common reason a card is eaten. Cards also are kept if they are bent up or if the bank has issued a hold because of a problem with the person's account, she said.
Tammy Bobo, vice president at Hocking Valley Bank, said bank employees bring the captured cards back to the bank. Customers can pick them up if they were using their home bank ATM, but if the card belongs to another bank, that bank must fax or mail a letter before the card can be released.
Another problem banks deal with is customers not taking the money from the bill dispenser quickly enough. When this happens, the money re-enters the machine and goes into a diverted bin. After the ATM is balanced, customers can pick up the money at the bank, she said.
Ward said to deal with some of the ATM's problems, all their ATMs have monitoring systems for problems such as jammed cards or no receipt paper.
The monitoring system in machines also helps the bank keep the right amount of money in the ATM, she said.
Usage trends are checked to see if they are the same for the year, although overall usage increases. Usage drops when students are not in town and increases on weekends.
Also, there are sometimes discrepancies in ATM accounts, but by verifying deposits with electronic numbers or looking at surveillance tapes, most problems are avoided, Ward said.
One possible problem for transactions is ATM fraud, but it is not abundant in Athens unless the PIN is lost or stolen, Bobo said
If a customer does try to commit fraud, the bank will call the police department serving the ATM location, she said.
Along with the potential problems of ATMs, banks and credit unions have to face the costs they bring.
Bobo said ATMs are expensive to install and maintain, but the customers want ATMs as a convenience.
We can't afford not to have them Bobo said.
A new, bank-type ATM costs between $10,000 and $40,000, said a sales representative at ATMPLUS, a Cincinnati company that sells and services ATMs.
Morgan McNaught, an Ohio University junior, said she usually uses an ATM and does not like going to the bank because she often goes in the wrong line or fills slips out incorrectly, which makes it time consuming.
Customers can use the ATM of their home bank for no charge, Bobo said. Because banks belong to interbank networks like MAC or STAR, customers can use any ATM as long as it is in the same network and they pay a surcharge.
Ward said the only reason other bank customers have to pay a fee to withdraw money is to try to re-coup the cost they pay to the interbank network for each transaction.
I would walk further in subzero temperatures to get to an ATM without surcharges said Erin Hogan, an OU junior.
Hocking Valley Bank and Ohio University Credit Union both have a surcharge of
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