American Heritage Federal Credit Union has lifted its $1 surcharge fee for both members and non-members who use any of its 22 machines in Philadelphia, Bucks and Montgomery counties.
AHFCU President/CEO Bruce K. Foulke said the board decided that the money collected by the $41-million CU was minor in comparison to the benefits of doing something nice for the community. "We have been surcharging for a little over a year,'' said Foulke. "But the money we made was peanuts.''
He said other financial institutions were collecting from $5,000 to $10,000 when AHFCU saw only $1,000 a month on average from the 10 of its 22 ATMS that surcharged.
"It's worth more to us to give something back to the community,'' he said. "It's important that even the non-members in our service area know that we provide value to the community.''
An added bonus, he said, is that by eliminating the fee, the credit union may actually see an increase in revenue by drawing more users. And, more users means more money in interchange fees, money paid by the ATM holder's financial institution to the ATM owner for handling the transaction.
He said he hopes the use of newspaper ads and banners placed near each of its 22 ATMS located within Philadelphia, Montgomery and Bucks counties will draw attention to its no fee ATMS.
While Foulke said American Heritage FCU is the first financial institution in the area to drop the surcharge, it does have some competition within Wawa convenience stores that provide no-surcharge ATMS inside their businesses.
