ATM Fees Are at a Record High. Here's How People Avoid Them.

On September 10, 2026, two law firms published a notice of a proposed $167.5 million settlement with Visa and Mastercard over surcharges at independent ATMs, the ones not owned by a bank. If you paid those surcharges between October 24, 2007, and August 14, 2026, and your bank didn't fully reimburse you, you can file a claim by February 10, 2027; payments depend on the court approving the deal. The settlement changes nothing about what your next withdrawal costs, and the average out-of-network cost is at a record, so the bigger saving comes from changing where you get cash.

Key takeaways

Bankrate's 2025 survey found an average out-of-network withdrawal cost of $4.86: a $3.22 surcharge from the ATM's owner plus $1.64 from your own bank. That is up 1.9% from $4.77, slightly less than inflation.
Allpoint (over 55,000 ATMs), MoneyPass (about 40,000) and CO-OP (over 30,000) waive surcharges only if your bank or credit union belongs, and your bank can still charge its own fee.
Schwab Bank Investor Checking and the Fidelity Cash Management Account advertise unlimited ATM fee rebates; Ally refunds up to $10 per statement cycle.
Cash back at checkout is free at Walmart, Target, Walgreens, CVS and Albertsons, according to the CFPB's 2024 review. Dollar General, Dollar Tree and Kroger charged between 50 cents and $3.50.
A credit card at an ATM costs most: Wells Fargo's Active Cash card, for example, charges the greater of $10 or 5%, with interest from day one.

What it means for you

You bank with a large bank: your bank's own ATMs are usually free, and another bank's machine usually means two fees. The app locator shows which ATMs count as in-network (networks section).
You bank online: free access depends on a network or on rebates, so check both and any cap (networks and refunds sections).
You belong to a credit union: ask whether it's in CO-OP's ATM and shared-branch networks; one doesn't guarantee the other (networks section).
You need cash every week: frequency matters more than any single fee; the yearly comparison runs from $0 to about $280.
You use a credit card at ATMs: that's a cash advance with a fee and immediate interest, priced in the cash section.
You live in a rural area: network ATMs and free cash back may be scarce; shared branches and the post office are fallbacks (cash section and FAQ).
You paid surcharges at non-bank ATMs since 2007: if your bank didn't fully reimburse them, you may be in the settlement class; claims close February 10, 2027 (next section).

What the fee data and lawsuit show

Fees are at a record, but rising slowly

The national figures come from Bankrate's annual checking and ATM fee survey, a private survey of 245 banks and thrifts in 25 large metro areas, collected June 2 to July 3, 2025. The average out-of-network total reached $4.86, a record for the third year in a row: a $3.22 owner surcharge (a fourth straight record) plus $1.64 from the customer's own bank. Metro averages ranged from $4.37 in Boston to $5.37 in Atlanta. As of October 14, 2026, Bankrate had not published a 2026 edition.

The rise is real in dollars but slow: the total rose 1.9% from $4.77, while the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers rose 2.7% from June 2024 to June 2025 (314.175 to 322.561). In 2025 money the 2024 average equals about $4.90, so the real cost was roughly flat. Bankrate's analyst linked the trend to declining ATM use, saying fees are likely to rise as ATMs are used less.

The $167.5 million settlement

The case is Burke v. Visa Inc., No. 1:11-cv-01882, in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. It claims Visa and Mastercard rules barred independent ATM operators from charging less when a transaction could run on a cheaper network; both deny wrongdoing. Visa pays $88,775,000 and Mastercard $78,725,000. After attorneys' fees (up to 30% requested), costs and administration, the fund is shared pro rata, so no per-person amount is set. The settlement is still proposed: the court will decide at a February 17, 2027 hearing whether to approve it, and payments depend on that approval.

The nationwide class generally covers people charged a surcharge to withdraw cash from a deposit account with an ATM or PIN-debit card at an independent ATM in the US or its territories between October 24, 2007, and August 14, 2026, who were not fully reimbursed by their bank. California, Illinois, Massachusetts and Michigan have statewide classes. Key dates:

December 11, 2026: deadline to opt out (keeping the right to sue yourself) or object.
February 10, 2027: claims due online or postmarked.
February 17, 2027: final approval hearing; no payments unless the court approves.

Full terms and the claim form are on the official settlement website.

ATM networks that skip surcharges

In a surcharge-free network, ATM owners waive the surcharge for cardholders of member institutions. You can't join one yourself; access comes through your bank, credit union or prepaid card provider. Three large surcharge-free networks describe themselves this way:

Network	Size it states	Where	Limits to know
Allpoint	Over 55,000 ATMs worldwide; about 1 in 12 US ATMs	Retail stores in the US, plus the UK, Canada, Puerto Rico, Australia and Mexico	Your card provider must participate; bank-branch ATMs aren't in it; your provider may charge its own transaction fee
MoneyPass	About 40,000 ATMs	US and Puerto Rico only	Your card issuer must participate; the issuer may charge other fees
CO-OP	Over 30,000 ATMs and 5,550+ shared branches	Credit unions and retailers including 7-Eleven, Walgreens and Costco	Only for debit and ATM cards of participating credit unions; not every credit union is in both the ATM and shared-branch networks

"Surcharge-free" covers only the ATM owner's fee; Allpoint's FAQ says your card provider may still charge a transaction fee, for example above a monthly limit. Network access is a feature of your account, not of the logo on the machine, so the reliable check is the locator in your own bank's app or website.

Credit union members have one more option: in CO-OP Shared Branch, participating credit unions let each other's members do business at their branches "just as if you were at your home branch." The locator's "Does My CU Participate?" search shows whether yours is in.

Accounts that pay the fee back

Other accounts refund what outside ATMs charge, on very different terms:

Schwab Bank Investor Checking: unlimited ATM fee rebates on cash withdrawals worldwide with its Visa debit card. It must be linked to a Schwab One brokerage account, which has no minimum balance. Rebates exclude balance-inquiry fees and some other charges, and Schwab can end them at any time.
Fidelity Cash Management Account: Fidelity says it automatically reimburses all ATM fees charged by other institutions when you use its debit card at an ATM showing the Visa, Plus or Star logo. It's a brokerage account, not a bank checking account.
Ally Spending Account: up to $10 per statement cycle for fees charged at other ATMs nationwide. Ally also cites more than 75,000 no-fee ATMs, and its fee table lists no ATM fee of its own.

Read the current terms before switching for this feature; the comparison below shows what a capped rebate leaves uncovered.

Cash without an ATM

Cash back at checkout

Cash on top of a debit-card purchase skips the ATM. In an August 2024 issue spotlight, still posted in October 2026, the CFPB reviewed eight national chains. The figures are from 2024, so check at the register.

Retailer (CFPB, 2024)	Cash-back fee	Maximum per transaction
Walmart	None	$100
Albertsons	None	$200
Target	None	$40
CVS	None	$60
Walgreens	None	$20
Dollar General	$1 to $2.50	$40
Dollar Tree / Family Dollar	$1 / $1.50	$50
Kroger, Ralphs, Fred Meyer	50 cents up to $100; $3.50 above	$300
Harris Teeter (Kroger)	75 cents up to $100; $3 above	$200

The CFPB estimated the three fee-charging chains collect over $90 million a year from these fees. Cash back usually triggers no bank fee, but low caps can mean several transactions for a $100 week.

Rural areas

The same spotlight says rural communities are 10 times more likely than urban areas to be banking deserts, and about 80% of Dollar General stores are in towns of 20,000 people or fewer. Alternatives there include a credit union shared branch, a network ATM on a regular route, or the post office (see the FAQ).

Why a credit card at the ATM costs most

A credit card withdrawal is a cash advance, a loan rather than your own money. The CFPB explains that grace periods usually apply only to purchases, so interest generally starts on the day of the advance. For example, the Wells Fargo Active Cash terms listed in October 2026 charge the greater of $10 or 5% per advance and a variable cash-advance APR of 29.74%, and advances earn no rewards.

Illustrative example. A $100 advance repaid after 30 days on those terms costs a $10 fee plus about $100 × 29.74% × 30 ÷ 365 = $2.44 in interest, so about $12.44. If the ATM also charges the average $3.22 surcharge, the total is about $15.66, or nearly 16% of the cash. That is over three times the average debit-card cost of $4.86 (the interest is simplified; issuers use a daily balance).

A year of weekly cash, compared

The yearly cost depends on how often you withdraw, the fees each time, and any rebate.

Annual cost = W × (S + H) − R

W = withdrawals per year (52 if weekly)
S = ATM owner's surcharge per withdrawal
H = your own bank's out-of-network fee per withdrawal
R = rebates received in the year (capped at the account's limit)

Illustrative example. Someone takes out cash weekly, using Bankrate's 2025 averages ($3.22 surcharge, $1.64 own-bank fee) and the CFPB's 2024 cash-back fees. Real fees vary by machine and store.

Approach	Arithmetic	Cost per year
Out-of-network ATM weekly, national average	52 × $4.86	$252.72
Same, at the Atlanta average	52 × $5.37	$279.24
Out-of-network, twice the cash every other week	26 × $4.86	$126.36
Out-of-network, once a month	12 × $4.86	$58.32
No own-bank fee, average surcharge, $10-per-cycle rebate (monthly cycles)	52 × $3.22 − 12 × $10	$47.44
Cash back at Dollar General	52 × $1 to 52 × $2.50	$52 to $130
Cash back at a Kroger store, $100 or less	52 × $0.50	$26
In-network ATM, unlimited-rebate account, or fee-free cash back	52 × $0	$0

In the rebate line, four or five withdrawals a month at $3.22 ($12.88 to $16.10) exceed the $10 cap every month. Halving the trips halves the cost to $126.36, but a free source cuts it to zero. Last year's 9-cent rise in the average adds only $4.68 a year to a weekly routine; using the wrong ATM every week costs about $253.

Frequently asked questions

Will the settlement make ATM fees cheaper?

The notice doesn't say so. It describes a cash fund paid out pro rata to valid claimants for past surcharges, and it doesn't describe any cap on future fees. A payment, if you get one, covers past fees and doesn't lower what the next withdrawal costs.

Why did an Allpoint ATM show me a fee screen?

Allpoint says the machine doesn't know your card participates until the transaction is complete, so it may show the standard surcharge screen. If your card is in the network and the ATM is on Allpoint's locator, Allpoint says you can accept it and won't be charged. If a surcharge posts anyway, it points you to its transaction help page.

Can I get cash back at the post office?

Yes. The CFPB's 2024 review says the US Postal Service gives free cash back on debit transactions in $10 increments, up to $50, which suits small amounts rather than a full week's cash.

Do EBT cards for cash benefits charge ATM fees?

They can, but federal law limits them for TANF cash assistance. 42 U.S.C. 602(a)(1)(A)(viii) requires each state's TANF plan to outline how the state will make sure recipients can use or withdraw benefits with minimal fees, including at least one way with no fee, and that the fees and surcharges are made public. The details depend on your state's EBT program.

Are credit card or prepaid card ATM fees part of the settlement?

The notice describes the class as people charged a surcharge to withdraw cash "from your deposit account" with an ATM or PIN-debit card at an independent ATM, so credit card cash advances and withdrawals at bank-owned ATMs don't fit that wording. For prepaid cards and edge cases, check the full class definition on the official settlement website before filing.

Before your next withdrawal

In your bank's app, find which network your card uses and save two or three free ATMs on routes you already travel.
Read the ATM section of your fee schedule for your bank's own out-of-network fee and any rebate cap.
Count the last three months' withdrawals, multiply by four, and price the habit with the formula above.
If you shop at a fee-free retailer, ask for cash back in amounts within its cap.
Don't use a credit card at an ATM unless there's no other option.
If you paid surcharges at non-bank ATMs, decide by December 11, 2026 whether to opt out; otherwise file a claim by February 10, 2027.

This article is general education, not financial or legal advice. Fees and terms change, so confirm them with your bank, card issuer or the settlement administrator before acting.