Glendale Federal Reinstates ATM Fees

Glendale Federal Bank has restored fees for non-account holders who use its automated teller machines, nearly a year after joining an alliance of small banks and thrifts that pledged not to impose such charges. Glendale Federal began charging $1.50 per transaction at its 214 ATMs on Nov. 5, spokesman Ken Preston said. The fee was reinstated to help pay the cost of expanding the bank’s ATM network to add ATMs in McDonald’s restaurants, Kinko’s copy centers and United Artists theaters, he said. “From our standpoint, it’s unfair to ask our customers to subsidize the entire ATM arrangement and not ask non-customers to help pay for that,” he said. The alliance includes Sanwa Bank, Union Bank, Sumitomo Bank, Coast Federal, Bay View Federal and CU Cooperative. They have only a fraction of the ATMs controlled by the big players. Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Home Savings of America control half of the 15,000 ATMs in California. Glendale Federal is a unit of Glendale-based Golden State Bancorp.