Two midwestern banks have stopped charging customers of recently acquired companies for using automated teller machines.
Bank One Corp., which bought First Chicago NBD Corp. in October, and Star Banc Corp., which purchased Firstar Corp. and took the Firstar name in November, had each continued to impose surcharges even after the two deals had closed.
Bank One said this week that its 1.5 million customers in Illinois and Indiana, where it had the most overlap of customers with First Chicago, could use teller machines without paying $1.50 surcharges.
With the exception of Firstar, which had little overlap with Star Banc, Bank One was the only big bank to continue charging its customers after a big merger.
The $260 billion-asset Bank One, now based in Chicago, was among the last big banks to fix its computer system so that it could recognize customers of two merged banks as one and the same.
A spokeswoman last month said Bank One would not refund ATM fees paid by the new customers.
Bank One has 4,000 teller machines, including 1,000 in Illinois and 350 in Indiana. The company operates in 12 other states.
Bank One said it continues to charge all its customers $1 per transaction for using its Rapid Cash machines, which are primarily in convenience and department stores such as Sears, Roebuck and Co. The company charges other banks' customers $1.50 per transaction.
Firstar, which has banks in seven states, stopped charging customers two weeks ago.
Bank One operates as Bank One, First National Bank of Chicago, and American National Bank in Illinois and as Bank One and NBD Bank in Indiana. It plans to merge its Indiana banks and computer systems in June and its Illinois banks and systems later in the year. All offices would then be under the Bank One banner.
