Sagging Economy Boosts Moneypass's Surcharge-Free ATMs

MoneyPass has signed a series of new agreements that the company's top executive says partly reflects banks' and credit union members' cardholders' nail biting about the worsening economy. Since April, the Minneapolis-based surcharge-free ATM network has made deals with South Valley Bank & Trust, a Klamath Falls, Ore.-based community commercial bank (CardLine, 5/23); Bellingham, Wash.-based Horizon Bank; and Vienna, Va.-based Navy Federal Credit Union. Those agreements represent only the surface of the problem, Doug Miraglia, president of MoneyPass, tells ATM&Debit News, a CardLine sister publication, in an e-mail message. Since January, MoneyPass has signed 100 financial institutions, and as a result the company anticipates a busy second half, Miraglia says. "It may have something to do with the economy because consumers seem particularly cost- and fee-conscious right now," he says. MoneyPass's surcharge-free ATM network has 12,000 to 15,000 surcharge-fee ATMs nationwide.