Commerce Bancorp Inc. plans to refund more fees to some customers when they use automated teller machines that are not in Commerce's ATM network.
Starting April 1, customers who maintain a minimum daily balance of $2,500 in their checking account will get monthly refunds of all external ATM surcharges, the Cherry Hill, N.J., company said Tuesday.
Right now some of the 1.5 million customers who have Commerce ATM cards are reimbursed no more than $5 a month for surcharges on non-Commerce ATMs.
Vernon W. Hill, Commerce's chairman, chief executive, and founder, said the $30.5 billion-asset company constantly gets complaints about ATM fees.
"We're always looking for ways to improve customer experience," he said in an interview Tuesday. This offer "is the last step in making ATMs for our customers completely free."
Commerce already waives fees for issuing ATM cards to customers, and has free checking, free online banking, and free bill-pay services. It does, however, charge noncustomers to use its ATMs.
Commerce and other companies have been stepping up their marketing to retail customers.
PNC Financial Services Group Inc. announced Monday that it would offer a BlackBerry as a gift to customers who open a new retail checking or small-business account. The offer runs through June as part of a $30 million advertising campaign the $79 billion-asset Pittsburgh company started this week.
PNC's larger campaign, set to run the rest of the year, targets women, customers in their mid-30s, and the Hispanic community, a spokesman said. The company is using television, radio, print, and outdoor advertising and promoting a new logo.
Next month, the spokesman said, PNC plans to begin advertising in a new market for the company, Washington, to capitalize on its pending acquisition of Riggs National Corp. (The acquisition is scheduled to close in May.)
But aggressive marketing tactics such as waiving ATM fees can be pricey, noted Tony Hayes, the managing director of Dove Consulting Inc. in Boston.
Most banks pay an interchange fee of 50 cents when a customer uses another organization's ATM, and most ATM surcharge fees are $1.50 per transaction, Mr. Hayes said. That means that on average Commerce will now pay $2 per transaction.
