Consequently, commercial banks in the country have silently increased ATM withdrawal charges and not only that. Even over-the-counter transactions which already cost more will now have you dig deeper in your pocket this time around. In a Special Report for New Vision TV, reporter Ali Twaha investigates these hikes in withdrawal charges at ATMs across the board. In his report, the ATM withdrawal charges have increased by as much as 50% at some banks.
New ATM Withdrawal Charges
By the end of October 2019, many banks were in the process of revising their ATM withdrawal charges, if they hadn’t done so already. According to the report, the likes of DTB hiked their charges 34% from UGX 660 to UGX 1,000. On top of this, Depositing money using the ATM machine will cost you a further UGX 1,000.
Some banks like DFCU and Stanbic hiked their ATM withdrawal charges by 20%. DFCU climbed from UGX 800 to UGX 1,000, whereas Stanbic now charges UGX 1,200.
ATM withdrawal fees among other commercial banks range between UGX 500 to UGX 10,000
UBA which for the last 12 months didn’t charge for ATM cards now charges a whopping UGX 15,000, same as GT Bank. As for the Housing Finance, the 50% hike from UGX 10,000 to UGX 20,000 will sting all the more.
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Over-the-counter charges
Over-the-counter withdrawal charges have traditionally always been a bit higher than ATM charges, given the human interaction. Nevertheless, some banks do not charge you at all for over-the-counter charges. These include BOA, Exim, GT Bank and Tropical Bank. The only bank which reversed the fee increase trend was none other than UBA. While other banks were busy increasing over-the-counter charges, UBA reduced their rates 20% from UGX 2,500 to UGX 2,000. As for DFCU transactions below 2 million will cost you UGX 8,000 up from UGX 6,000. Anymore above this figure costs UGX 5,000 more. Stanbic Bank increased its fee to UGX 15,000 from UGX 12,000 for the same threshold. Anything more will set you back UGX 35,000. The charges from the rest of the banks have largely remained the same for now. A recent directive to post at least two guards at every ATM could perhaps be one of the reasons leading to these hikes.
