BANKS HIDDEN CHARGES ON CREDIT CARDS

BANKS are hiding the cost of cash advances on credit cards from their own customers by refusing to display the fees on ATM screens.

BANKS are hiding the cost of cash advances on credit cards from their own customers by refusing to display the fees on ATM screens.

While the cost of using an ATM has to be displayed under rules from the Reserve Bank, the fee for cash advances on credit cards does not fall under the same laws.

Fees for cash advances can be as high as $10 or $20 because they are charged as a percentage of the advance.

All banks contacted by our source say they do not display the fees.

NAB spokeswoman Gillian Griffiths says the bank is working on the issue and will display charges "as soon as possible".

CBA spokesman Steve Batten says it warns of the charges in branches and online but not on ATM screens.

"The charges are clearly laid out in our terms and conditions," Batten says.

ANZ spokesman Kevin Foley says "charges for cash advances are not disclosed at ATMs".

"It is disclosed in the monthly statement, and in our tariff of fees and charges," he says.

He did not comment on whether the bank would be changing its policy to introduce screen-displayed charges.

Each month Australians make more than two million cash advances on their credit and charge cards, according to Reserve Bank data.

Figures released late last year showed that ATM users were already going out of their way to find machines from their own bank or network that would not charge them a fee.

In September, Reserve Bank research showed there was a 10 per cent increase in customers using their own bank's machines since new rules forcing ATM owners to display their charges on screen were introduced last year.

"Before the rules came in, there was about a 60/40 per cent split between transactions at customers' own bank machines and transactions at rivals' machines," an RBA spokesman says.

"The proportion using their own machines has risen to more than 65 per cent."