PNC Spikes Its ‘Free ATMs’
After five years, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. has put an end to its free ATMs program.
The program, launched in 2006, allowed PNC customers to avoid fees for using non-PNC ATM. The program gave its consumers 100% reimbursements if the non-PNC ATM network charged a fee. At the time, the program gave PNC customers free access to 1 million ATMs worldwide, including 395,000 across the United States.
No more. PNC has quietly ended the program. No word on why, but at the time of the program’s launch, PNC said consumers paid an average of $126 a year in ATM usage fees, and that total fees paid reached a record high of $4.2 billion in 2005. That number is higher today.
PNC currently maintains 6,700 ATMs. Its consumer and small business customer base now numbers 5 million.
PNC MESSAGE UPON ATTEMPTING TO ACCESS INFORMATION ON THE FREE ATM PROGRAM:
