Commissions paid by those who withdraw money using an ATM of a different bank than the one with which they have an account has been reduced since January 1, 2024.
This development comes after a relevant decision of the Competition Commission, which ruled that the banks had pre-agreed by following a common practice regarding the charges they submit to customers, not only with regard to withdrawing money from ATMs, but also the issue-renewal of cards and electronic transactions.
The commission imposed steep fines on Piraeus Bank, National Bank, Alpha Bank, Eurobank and Attica Bank which, after settlement, exceeded a total of 41 million euros.
In addition, the C.C. obliged the banks to maintain the renewed (and reduced) commission levels for a period of 3 years and with the possibility of a fine if the banks did not comply.
New ATM Commissions
Alpha Bank
With regard to cash withdrawals from Alpha Bank ATMs from an account of another credit institution, the amount of the commission has been reduced to 1.80 euros from 2.50 in force before New Year 2024.
At the same time, for Interbank Transactions carried out with Alpha Bank cards at ATMs inside and outside the Eurozone, including the DIAS Interbank System, the fee is set as follows:
Fr withdrawals from a credit card / loan (cash advance) at ATMs of other Banks, the fee is set as follows:
Regarding top-ups, especially for the Alpha Bank Prepaid MasterCard the first top-up is free. The cost for recharging the card is set at 1% of the amount, with a minimum charge of Euro 1.00 and a maximum charge of Euro 5.00.
Eurobank
From the €2.50 that consumers used to pay if they wanted to withdraw cash from a Eurobank ATM using a card from another bank, the fee is now reduced to €1.80.
Ιt is noted that the bank imposes a daily limit of €1,000 common to ATMs & ATMs (APS) for the following transactions: 1) Order in Euros to a domestic bank with credit to a deposit account, 2) Transfer from a Eurobank account to a third-party Eurobank account, 3) Payment of a credit card third-party Eurobank card, 4) Payment of a third-party loan account, 5) Credit Card Payment Order issued by another Bank via DIAS. The transaction of Organizations payment is excluded from the limit.
National Bank
For National Bank, a fee of 1.90 euros per withdrawal was decided, an amount significantly lower than the previous one, which was close to 2.60 euros.
Attica Bank
The amount of commission per ATM cash withdrawal transaction using cards issued by other institutions is 1.50 euros for Attica Bank from the previous amount of 2 euros.
source: ieidiseis.gr
So typically they have reduced the fee for ATM withdrawals by €0.70. Since most of my income arises in the UK I have to transfer money from the UK to Greece from time to time. My Greek bank has increased the charge for these transfers by €1. The bank giveth and the bank taketh away.
So, you park your money at a bank (aaaaand, it’s gone), which they cumulatively use to do investments with (from which they make profits but you won’t see any of that), and then you need to pay them a monthly fee for giving them your money (and for the use of the card they issue so you can access your money), pay you peanuts in interests (but charge you big with you go into red), and you have to pay transfer fee when you want to draw your money from an ATM of another bank.
The bank always wins.
In rural areas many banks have closed branches so that people are forced to withdraw from a different bank ATM.
There should be a zero fee for ATM withdrawals where the nearest account holder bank is more than 5km away.