National ATM Council executive director Bruce Renard recently testified before Alaska’s House Labor & Commerce Committee in favor of allowing cardholder surcharges on international transactions conducted at independent ATMs throughout the state.
The measure, HB044, got a 5-1 vote in committee and now awaits consideration in the House Rules Committee. NAC has been part of a two-year effort to close the legal loophole.
“Independent ATM companies have been precluded from charging a reasonable fee for providing ATM services to international visitors in Alaska,” Renard said. “This has placed a ‘hidden tax’ on Alaskan cardholders and penalized Alaska’s small businesses who collectively have been subsidizing surcharge-free ATM transactions using foreign cards.”
More information about this and other legislative dealings of NAC, visit www.natmc.org.