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Visa card costly for off-network ATMs

Sajjadur Rahman
A Visa debit cardholder has to pay as high as Tk 143.75 per transaction if he or she uses an ATM that is not owned or shared by the card-issuing bank.
Of die charged amount, the owning bank of the ATM (automated teller machine) gets one US dollar (around Tk 70) and the card-issuing bank takes the rest of the amount, bank sources said.
“I am an Eastern Bank Ltd (EBE) Visa debit cardholder. Often I use the ATMs that are not owned by EBL. I have seen recently in my latest account statement that every Visa ATM usage fee is Tk 143.75," said an executive of a multinational company.
“I was not aware of the high charges of non-EBL ATMs that accept Visa debit card," added the official
According to banking sources, almost all the private
commercial banks issue Visa cards for their clients. Visa International, a USA-based plastic card issuing company, provides an alternative payment method to cash.
Currently, there are about six lakh Visa debit cards in the country. Standard Chartered Bank tops the list with about two lakh cards followed by BRAC Bank's one lakh.
EBL has 48,000 Visa debit cardholders and at least 3,000 of them use other banks' ATMs
frequently, officials said.
"We do not impose any charge for use of the card unless you use other banks' ATMs. If you use other banks' ATMs, we will charge Tk 125 plus 15 percent VAT for every transaction," a senior official of EBLsaid.
The official said: The bank will deduct the amount from the account of the cardholder.
"A cardholder will never be charged for ATM transaction if
he or she uses our own ATM,” the EBLofficial said.
Banks charge nothing for use of their respective ATMs. ButTk 25 is charged per transaction if the ATM is a shared one. For example, Prime Bank has an agreement with the Dutch-Bangla Bank Ltd for use of latter's ATMs and in that case the DBBL will charge Tk 25 per transaction for the Prime Bank cardholders.
Abul Kashem Mohammad Shirin, deputy managing direc-
tor of DBBL, which has the highest number of ATM booths of 260, said charges for use of Visa card vary from bank to bank.
"We don't need to use Visa cards for local transaction. It is costly. The card is necessary for international transactions," said Abedur Rahman Sikder, head of BRAC Bank's marketing and corporate affairs.
sajjad@thedailystar.net