Cardtronics Buy Won’t Stop FSCC’s 7-Eleven Deal

HOUSTON – ATM giant Cardtronics Inc. assured credit unions yesterday that its planned takeover of the 5,500 ATMs in 7-Eleven convenience stores won’t interfere with the planned connection of almost 2,000 of the machines–all Vcom financial self-service kiosks–to the Financial Service Centers Cooperative. “We will honor the contracts that are in place,” said Keith Myers, executive vice president of Cardtronics, of the FSCC plans, as well as the CO-OP Network’s branding of 5,300 surcharge-free ATMs in 7-Eleven stores. Sarah Canepa-Bang, president of FSCC, said she is excited about the Cardtronics deal. “This is actually good for us. The deal with 7-Eleven is still going forward. What this does is it gives us an introduction to the entire Cardtronics network,” she said, adding that the roll-out of the 7-Eleven Vcoms has been pushed back until July, for technological reasons. Myers told The Credit Union Journal yesterday that Cardtronics, which also serves the Credit Union 24 network and provides hundreds of credit unions services through the Allpoint network, sees credit unions as major partners. “This is part of our strategy, part of our vision,” he said. “And it puts us in a position to offer services to more credit union and more consumers throughout the United States.” Cardtronics, which currently owns or operates 23,500 ATMs in the U.S., has agreed to take over the 7-Eleven network for $135 million, giving it control over 28,500 ATMs, the largest fleet in the country.