Overview

While other countries look to discourage reliance on cash, consumers in the U.S. continue to include cash in their day-to-day payment transaction mix. The use of cash permeates across generations, suggesting that although cash use has seen a small decline in use, it will still play an important role for many years to come.

Mercator Advisory Group’s latest report, New Trends Underscore Role of Surcharge-Free ATMs, provides an understanding of cash usage in the U.S., the reasons that financial institutions of all sizes are latching onto surcharge free networks, and a discussion of the small group of market providers for these services.

“Smaller institutions, online-only banks, and alternative financial product providers have been the traditional buyers of surcharge-free ATM networks to offer cash access points that could rival big financial institutions. Now, with new trends such as the rising expense of surcharge rebate programs and a desire to get out from underneath the overhead expense of managing off-premise ATM fleets, very large financial institutions are embracing surcharge-free as a lower-cost option, comments Sarah Grotta, Director, Debit Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group, the author of the report.

This report is 14 pages long and has 6 exhibits.

Companies mentioned in this report include: Allpoint, Citibank, CO-OP, Costco, CU 24, CVS, Fifth Third Bank, First Tennessee, Fiserv, Green Dot, Kroger, Mastercard, Safeway, Star sf, Target, Visa, Walmart.

Highlights of the report include:

  • Trends in cash usage in the U.S.
  • Channels U.S. consumers use to get cash.
  • The influence of convenient cash access has on the choice of a financial institution
  • Recent trends that are influencing the use of surcharge-free strategies by larger banks and credit unions

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