In fact, he expects more and more banks to charge their own account holders for using bank-operated ATMs because, in a weird display of the free market at work, surcharges beget more surcharges. You might expect the market to favor free ATMs, but it doesn't, Sorkin says. ATMs, that customer will be tempted to open an account with the big bank to avoid ATM surcharges. That's why Sorkin and other critics say ATM surcharges are anticompetitive. Thus, with help from ATM surcharges, big banks grow bigger and gobble up smaller rivals.
Customers have fewer options.
On the site he offers advice on how to avoid surcharges and how to take political action against them. For years, banks have operated unbranded ATMs in Las Vegas casinos, levying surcharges on customers and non-customers alike. Bank of America's unbranded ATM in a Seattle store could represent the next link in the evolution to nearly universal ATM surcharging. To fee or not to fee Knapp's lawsuit doesn't challenge the practice of surcharging itself. It accuses Bank of America of violating the terms of its customer agreement, which, according to Berger, promises its account holders free access to their cash.