NFCU ATM Fees

[Anonymous]

I've been with Navy Federal for several years now, and been extremely happy with them.  However this past weekend I ran into something I'm totally shocked by and actually not even sure how it's legal.

Navy Fed used to have ATM's in both Walgreens in my town, but as of the start of this year, they removed those, and the closest ATM that I can use without paying fees is 5 miles away (and in LA traffic that's 20 minutes).

So on Saturday, I went to a local ATM (a block away from my home), and took out some money.  I have done this before, and they refund me the fees at the close of the billing cycle, so no big deal.  I went to take out money, and the first time I entered my PIN evidently a key stuck or something, as I got a denial for invalid pin.  So I did it again, got my money, and thought nothing of it.

Fast forward to Tuesday, and I have a fee on my account for $1.00 labeled "ATM FEE - Denied Transaction" as well as the fee for my successful withdrawl.  This is NOT the fee charged by the 3rd party ATM, but a fee actually charged by Navy Federal.

I reached out to Navy Federal, who politely pointed me to documentation showing this.  It only applies at VISA/PLUS SYSTEM ATM'S and as I said, WHAT THE HECK?  You charged me a fee because of a typo?

Prior to Navy Federal, I've been with quite a few other banks (Wells Fargo, Chase, Bank of America, Washington Mutual, Smaller Banks), but I've never seen a fee like this on any others.  Is this common?  In my google searches, the only result I come back with is Navy Federal's schedule of fees.

So curious if anyone else has ever run into anything like this?  I've been very happy with Navy Federal up until now, but this is stupidly frustrating, and add this on top of they removed my local ATM's, bugs me.  They did confirm they will refund it as part of my monthly ATM FEE refund, but why was it charged in the first place?  I mean I understand a Insufficient Funds fee, but this was a typo of a PIN due to a stuck key on the ATM.

[UncleB]

Hi @Anonymous,  your edit triggered the spam filter... your post has now been restored to the forums.

--UB

[OldFatJarhead]

The plus network charges NFCU a fee for every denied transaction, balance inquiry, etc... After all, the network did do some "work"...carried data from the ATM to the bank and back. That takes equipment, maintenance, electricity, etc... It's not the network's fault the CU denied the transaction, they still deserve to get paid by the bank for the service they provided. (Whether they should get paid as much as they do is a different discussion! Probably about a quarter per transaction for a non-cash transaction. That plus a percentage of cash transactions.) The CU passes that cost on to the cardmember with a little more added for profit (hey, it's a CU, not a charity). But as you said, they reimburse you those fees, up to the fee reimbursement limit on your account so no harm no foul. But if someone is already over their reimbursement limit, why should NFCU eat that fee because of the cardmember's mistake? I have no problem with them charging this fee, especially given their very lenient fee reimbursement structure.

[Anonymous]

Did I miss something? If I recall the OP stated the key stuck when entering the PIN into the ATM. So why is the OP held responsible for the cost? In reading these posts every one seems to be coming after the OP. Why?

[OldFatJarhead]

He needs to take that up with the owner of the ATM, I guess. The bottom line is OP typed his PIN wrong. How that happened isn't NFCU's problem. If OP is so sure a key stuck, then OP obviously felt it (otherwise how does OP know that's what the problem was?) and should have hit the back button and started over. Now, even though it's not NFCU's problem, if OP was certain it was a keypad error and not user error, then I bet if he called into the contact center and explained the problem, they'd credit back the dollar. As it stands, OP is getting the dollar credited back anyway. Now, go be snarky with someone else.

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@Anonymous wrote:

Did I miss something? If I recall the OP stated the key stuck when entering the PIN into the ATM. So why is the OP held responsible for the cost? In reading these posts every one seems to be coming after the OP. Why?

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[Anonymous]

Darling, its only $1 and you get credited back at the end of the day. I wonder why some people make themself into a big stress or hassel for $1. Was it worth it? Dunno......

[UncleB]

$1 or $10, it's fair to ask 'why' NFCU charges it when most other banks/CUs don't... especially when it's an invalid PIN issue.  I would personally be slightly more tolerant of a fee for a decline due to no funds available, but even that's a stretch.

You don't have to agree with the OP, but it's a valid topic.

Quick reminder to all... Friendly, supportive, and respectful.

[Anonymous]

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@OldFatJarhead wrote:

He needs to take that up with the owner of the ATM, I guess. The bottom line is OP typed his PIN wrong. How that happened isn't NFCU's problem. If OP is so sure a key stuck, then OP obviously felt it (otherwise how does OP know that's what the problem was?) and should have hit the back button and started over. Now, even though it's not NFCU's problem, if OP was certain it was a keypad error and not user error, then I bet if he called into the contact center and explained the problem, they'd credit back the dollar. As it stands, OP is getting the dollar credited back anyway. Now, go be snarky with someone else.

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@Anonymous wrote:

Did I miss something? If I recall the OP stated the key stuck when entering the PIN into the ATM. So why is the OP held responsible for the cost? In reading these posts every one seems to be coming after the OP. Why?

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The point about the ATM owner makes sense ... use of back key rings a bell. Now as to being "snarky" yes ... I feel sometimes people seem to side with the lenders without cutting the OP's some slack. We all get into situations and this seems like one. Depending on the ATM owners ... there seems to be a maintenance issue of some ATMs. I use an ATM at a bank that refuses to accept one of my Debit Cards (issued on a different bank) and the bank and ATM owner can't seem to figure it out (don't think they care) and now the ATM doesn't issue receipts and errors out if you want one. I have contacted the bank on three opportunities and it still does it! Mad  ... choices stop using the ATM. Do have an expectation that if a service is offered it should work after the bank is notified (ATM is right in the bank).

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[Jnbmom]

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@UncleB wrote:

$1 or $10, it's fair to ask 'why' NFCU charges it when most other banks/CUs don't... especially when it's an invalid PIN issue.  I would personally be slightly more tolerant of a fee for a decline due to no funds available, but even that's a stretch.

You don't have to agree with the OP, but it's a valid topic.

Quick reminder to all... Friendly, supportive, and respectful.

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Thank you that is why I enjoy this board so much everyone is all of the above and then some.

I used to frequent another board and my goodness what a difference it is on this board

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Darling, its only $1 and you get credited back at the end of the day. I wonder why some people make themself into a big stress or hassel for $1. Was it worth it? Dunno......

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The point isn't the $1, it's the fact that they even charge this to begin with.  I checked all the other banks I have ever banked with and couldn't find this located on any of their fee structures, hence why I asked about Navy Federal.  Now of course all the other banks I have banked with had local branches where I could go to an ATM.  And as I mentioned, the city I live in has 2 Walgreens (so not a small town by any means), up until this year both had Navy Federal ATM's in them.  Now they don't and I have to either drive out of the city I live in, or use an alternative ATM.

As for the key sticking, yes it stuck, the reason I noticed it was after it gave me the decline, I could see that the key was stuck down.  So no I didn't notice it while I was typing in my PIN, and I made sure I was extremely careful the second time.

But as others have mentioned, I get the $1 back, so not a big deal.  But for a bank that relies on most of it's members using non-Navy Fed ATM's, was kind of a shock to me.