Campaigning - Success stories
Fee-charging cash-withdrawal machines in Cambridge
In 1999 virtually all cash machines in the UK were free to use. Just seven years later over 40 percent of cash machines charge a fee for cash-withdrawals.
So, Cambridge CAB carried out an investigation that aimed to
assess the impact that fee-charging cash machines were having
locally. The numbers and locations of fee-charging cash
withdrawal machines in the area were mapped and compared to the
numbers and locations of free ones.
We found that the fee-charging machines are more common in areas where people who are unemployed or economically inactive (for example, retired people) live. In other words, people who can least afford it stand to be stung by high (£1.50p upwards) charges when they withdraw their cash.
In response to this finding, we alerted Citizens Advice.
Nationally, they had been raising this issue with the major
banks and subsequently HSBC committed to installing 10 free cash
machines in locations that were identified as needing them.
We have been put on the list of possible locations for help.
Read more about the successes of national campaigns:
The impact of Citizens Advice social policy work in 2006/2007 (pdf 514Kb)
