Are ATMs Anti-poor?

Bangko Sentral Officials may want to look into the practice of banks who are either too lazy or intentionally not loading the necessary bills for their cash dispensing machines.

I have been asked by a number of low income workers to write something about banks with ATMs and CASH Cards that don’t load P100 bills which prevents them from withdrawing amounts below P500. This tactic denies access to cash for the poor but helps maintain a healthy cash flow for the banks.

In many cases, the cardholders often leave a small amount in their cards between P1,000 to P500. Sometime after this, the bank deducts handling charges which leaves the cardholder with the “broken amount” of below one thousand or less than five hundred pesos.

But because many bank ATM machines dispense only 1000 or 500 peso bills, many low income individuals have to borrow money for emergency, bus fare or they have to ask employers to advance a few pesos in order for them to withdraw their stand-by money.

While researching on this thing, I also learned that a well-known bank that is a member of MEGALINK intentionally disconnects from the network during paydays. If you withdraw directly from the ATMs of the bank you can get your salary. But if you try it through remote ATMs of other banks or MEGALINK, you are advised by the system that your bank is Off line.

My source claims that the bank does the practice in order to improve their overnight numbers with the BSP and because people never really suspected that the “off-line” status was intentional! –Cito Beltran, Philippine Star