Atlanta tops in ‘out of network’ ATM fees

Phoenix $4.88

Miami $4.84

Milwaukee $4.78

… and the lowest:

San Francisco $3.85

Cincinnati $3.86

Kansas City $4.01

Dallas $4.11

Seattle $4.21

Step away from that teller machine and go back to your network while you still can.

That’s the local angle on a study by New York-based Bankrate.com, which looked at how much bank customers pay for using an “out of network” ATM machine. Turns out Atlanta is the most expensive metro in the country for such transactions, at $5.15 a pop.

That is a combined fee including what the bank you use charges and the fee your own bank imposes, if any, for using its card out-of-network.

The report also concludes that Atlanta has the second-highest average overdraft fee: $34.57.

Nationally, the average fee at an out-of-network ATM is $4.52 and the average overdraft fee is $33.07. Both are higher than ever, says Bankrate, which collects, analyzes and reports on consumer financial data.

Shopping around for the bank or credit union is the smart approach, said said Greg McBride, Bankrate.com’s chief financial analyst.

“The most important thing for consumers to know is that all of these fees are completely avoidable.”