One part of the charge comes from the ATM owner, the second from your own bank.
“It’s a little outrageous to have to spend your money on fees rather than on what you want to buy with your own money,” said U.D. student Emely Richardson.
Plus, Ohio as some of the most expensive fees and some of the cheapest.
Cleveland ranks third highest at $4.98 and Cincinnati is second lowest at $3.92.
The banks are charging you for the convenience of fast cash access and they “set their fees to make money,” said Wright State University economics professor, Evan Osborne, “basically if customers will pay it, they’ll go up.”
Paige Prenger of Dayton said the high fees have her using alternatives, “I just end up not using an ATM or going to a grocery store and getting cash bank.”
Fixing repaid card pitfalls
Debra Houston of Trotwood thought using a prepaid card to shop online would be ideal.
It wasn’t tied to her bank account and she could load money onto it whenever she wanted, but she said she was blindsided by high interest charges.
“It was okay at first, but then after a while I tried to use it again. I put money on it and it took every dime that I had on the card,” Houston said.
It's estimated that 23 million Americans use prepaid cards every month putting them at risk of high fees, enormous interest rates, and fraud - but new rules from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau hope to protect consumers from these pitfalls.
These rules aim to keep interest rates and fees “reasonable,” make sure the cardholder has the ability to repay any loans, and to make the terms more clear.
“I think it’s going to protect the consumer, so they know what they are signing up for- if they take the time to read it and that’s really important,” said Sharon Wiley, program manager for Graceworks Consumer Credit Counseling in Dayton.
The new rules go into effect in October of next year.
Halloween spending will be an all time high
We love Halloween so much- the scares, the decorations, and the costumes- that we will spend more than ever on the holiday this year - $8.4 billion, according to the National Retail Federation.
“I don’t like any other holiday. Halloween is the best. Not because you get candy, but you get to see the scary stuff. I love it,” said Sara Thompson of West Carrollton.
The average shopper is expected to spend about $83 on Halloween merchandise this year, up 11 percent from 2015.
Spirit Halloween is a retail chain that is expanding with the demand, according to district sales manager Monty Zinck.
“We are growing. The Dayton market is one where we had three stores last year and now we have four in the metro area and four in the surrounding areas like Springfield and Piqua,” said Zinck.
Rachel Murray is a WHIO-TV consumer reporter. You can watch her reports on News Center 7, follow her on Twitter @RMurrayWHIO, and like her fan page on Facebook.
About the Author