Chase scraps $5 ATM fee for non-customers

It's a small victory over bank fees. After a brief test earlier this year, Chase is lowering the $4 and $5 ATM fees it charged non-customers for using its machines in two states. The fees will drop back to $3, as in the rest of the country.

The New York-based bank declined to say why it was making the move.

Details

 Hitting an out-of-network ATM often results in two fees: one from the ATM operator and one from the customer's bank.

Chase began testing higher fees for non-customers in early February. In Texas, non-customers were charged $4. In Illinois, they were charged $5.

Chase operates the second largest ATM network in the country, with 16,000 ATMs. Nearly a quarter of those machines are in Illinois and Texas.

The bank's customers were not affected by the test.

Background

The banking industry is searching for new ways to maintain the profitability of checking accounts. That's largely because a new regulation, slated to go into effect this summer, would drastically cap the fees banks can collect from merchants whenever customers swipe their debit cards.

As a result, banks have been introducing new fees or raising minimum balance requirements on checking accounts. ATM fees haven't been immune. This year, TD Bank started charging its customers $2 for using an out-of-network ATM. Customers previously weren't charged anything.

PNC Bank also said it will no longer reimburse customers for fees they're charged by other banks for using out-of-network ATMs. And late last year, Citibank customers with basic checking accounts began paying $2 for using an out-of-network ATM, up from $1.50.