Fees

Multilateral Interchange Fees (Wholesale charging)

Interchange fees are the ''wholesale' fees which are paid by a card-issuing institution to the owner of the ATM (the "acquirer") which provides services to the card holder. A default level for Multilateral Interchange Fees is agreed and set centrally by the LINK network. They are set at a flat rate irrespective of the transaction volumes or numbers of ATMs held by any one Member. The LINK process for the setting and agreement of Interchange Fees has been forged over the last decade by constant dialogue with the Members and has undergone rigorous examination by UK regulators and competition authorities.

Multilateral Interchange Fees are internal fees paid between members of the LINK network and are nothing to do with consumer surcharges (see below).

Network rules dictate that every time a consumer uses a LINK cash machine, their bank or card issuer pays an interchange fee (typically at the "default" rate) to the owner of the cash machine for allowing their customer to use this facility. The LINK Multilateral Interchange fees differ for cash withdrawals and non-financial transactions (eg. balance enquiries). They also vary according to whether the ATM is branch-based or at a remote site.

An annual internal discussion takes place about the level of the LINK default multilateral interchange fees paid between LINK Members for the use of each others' cash machines. The level of default Multilateral interchange fees is decided each year by the LINK Network Members Council, following an independent review.

LINK provides payment switching and settlement facilities between the Card Issuers and the owners of the vast majority of ATMs deployed in the UK. Based on the agreed interchange fee arrangements, LINK calculates the net fees owing to or from each institution on a monthly basis and arranges settlement.

Pay-to-use (Retail charging)

Click here for detailed explanation of the current situation regarding charging

The decision about whether to charge the consumer is not a LINK issue but the ATM owner (with certain restrictions) is entitled to charge customers directly for the use of their expensive asset.

The current position is that customers can use nearly all bank or building society cash machines free of charge.

Using some LINK cash machines, however, will incur a charge. There are two instances where this may happen but in either case LINK rules dictate that the cardholder must not be charged twice - ie by both the Card Issuer and the ATM provider:

1. If you use a store, credit or charge card and your card issuer charges a cash advance fee.

OR

2. If you use a 'convenience' cash machine, which are generally located in areas where lower numbers of people are expected to use them. In recent years, a new breed of ATM owners (the independent ATM deployers, or IADs) has emerged which are far removed from the 'normal' financial institution which both installs cash machines and issues cards to customers. IADs install ATMs in places that are unattractive to the different business model of the banks and building societies, and customers are expected to pay for the convenience of obtaining their cash from these machines.