You can use just about any ATM with just about any account in Australia, which is great if you need cash in a hurry. That can be a costly exercise, however, so it’s well worth keeping in mind which ATMs you can use without incurring extra fees.
We’ve listed the main banks and their arrangements for fee-free access below. It’s always sensible to minimise your banking fees wherever possible, so using a compatible ATM makes a lot of sense. ATMs are required by law to inform you of additional fees that may apply when using them, allowing you to exit gracefully if you feel the fee is too high
A few caveats do apply to these guidelines, however, depending on your account type. Many lower cost accounts severely limit the number of ATM withdrawals you can make in a calendar month, or require you to either withdraw over a set amount (as ING does) or have a minimum account balance to qualify for free ATM withdrawals.
Bear in mind also that some accounts may offer credit card services for free but not ATM withdrawals, so it’s feasible to save some money paying by card instead of cash, as long as your merchant of choice isn’t popping a credit card surcharge on your transaction.
| Bank | Fee Free ATMs available | |||
| Commonwealth Bank | Commonwealth | Bankwest | ||
| Westpac | Westpac | St George | Bank SA | Bank Of Melbourne |
| NAB | NAB | rediATM | Bank of Queensland | |
| ANZ | ANZ | |||
| Rediteller Credit Unions | rediATM | |||
| Bendigo Bank | Bendigo Bank | Suncorp | ||
| Bank of Queensland | Bank of Queensland | rediATM | ||
| St George | St George | Westpac | Bank SA | |
| Suncorp Metway | Suncorp | Bendigo Bank | ||
| Teachers Mutual Bank | rediATM | NAB | Bank Of Queensland | |
| ING | Withdrawals over $200 have fee refunded | |||
| Bankwest | Bankwest | Commonwealth | ||
| Bank SA | Bank SA | Westpac | St George | Bank Of Melbourne |
| Bank Of Melbourne | Bank Of Melbourne | Westpac | Bank SA | St George |
Lifehacker’s weekly Loaded column looks at better ways to manage (and stop worrying about) your money.
Comments
13 responses to “Lifehacker’s Complete Guide To Saving On ATM Fees”
I have a bankwest zero transaction account and they refund me the atm fees for pretty much every atm, all the big banks it seems and sometimes even those atm’s you find in oubs and convenience stores
Heritage can use Westpac ATMs for fee-free
I’m with BankWest but not on the zero transaction account that has ATM rebates for the big banks.
I went with the Hero account that pays interest instead, because I found out there are BankWest ATM at every 7-11 store, and because you can use the CBA ones as well you’ve got a heap of coverage. Hardly ever pay an ATM fee now (at most twice a year) and the interest I earn more than covers the fee.
ATM lifehack: reduce fee to 30c buy getting cash out at Maccas with a 30c cone
Or withdraw money at Coles/Woolworths Checkout, no Purchase Required (Self-Service can do it too)
All NAB, BoQ and credit unions are Reditellers, so they’re interchangeable rather than as above. Either NAB can only use RediATMs or NAB and credit unions can identically use NAB, BoQ and credit union machines.
All woolworths stores can do cashout without purchase. I’m sure bigger chains do similar things. It can also be done via the self-serve checkout.
Cash out eftpos or the ATM finder in the combank app keep me out of $2-3.50 ATM fee’s. I’d rather go for a 3 minute jog than give a bank $2 just for having an ATM nearby, and it’s getting to the point if somewhere doesn’t accept eftpos I’ll just go somewhere else rather than getting cash out for them.
I’ve been doing this for years, and haven’t been charged an ATM fee in that time. I didn’t know ATM fees were still a thing.
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HSBC: HSBC, Westpac, St George, Bank of Melbourne, Bank SA
Maybe it missed out because the table only has 4 fee-free ATM columns.
You forgot to mention the Citibank Plus transaction account in your review.
It is the ONLY transaction account in Australia that is truly fee-free, including overseas use and if you withdraw cash at any Citibank, Westpac, St. George, Bank SA and Bank of Melbourne ATM, you won’t pay any ATM operator fees as well.
You can also withdraw cash fee-free at any Australia Post branch.
Based on our extensive research, this is currently the best transaction account available in Australia
I went to use a NAB ATM the other day and it says all cards accepted on the screen, then when I put in my Visa ME Bank card it says card not accepted.. lol.. my friend thinks that ME bank is underwritten or owned by NAB too..