General News
29 October, 2022
Bank pulls plug on ATM
BOORT will be without 24-hour access to banking with the Commonwealth Bank about to remove the town’s only ATM. Three years after the bank approached hardware store owner George Tallis for space to install an ATM, Commonwealth has confirmed the...
BOORT will be without 24-hour access to banking with the Commonwealth Bank about to remove the town’s only ATM.
Three years after the bank approached hardware store owner George Tallis for space to install an ATM, Commonwealth has confirmed the lease will not be renewed.
A bank spokesperson said: “CBA continues to operate the largest and fee-free bank ATM network in Australia, the majority of which are available 24/7.”
“ATM withdrawal volumes across the industry continue to decrease each year as more people adopt digital and card payment options, and over time we make changes to our network to reflect customer preferences.
The CBA ATM at Boort has had a significant decline in usage and with the lease due to expire on 8 November 2022, we have made the decision to remove the ATM.”
“There are a number of fee-free options for customers to access cash, including via Australia Post’s Bank@Post service which is available at the Boort LPO, and using EFTPOS at the IGA Boort.”
Mr Tallis said the machine was due to have been removed this week but that was likely to be delayed by the flood emergency.
He said efforts to find another bank or company to install an ATM had been unsuccessful.
Mr Tallis said he had been approached by Commonwealth following closure of its branch in 2017 and the town’s NAB branch 12 months later.
“They approached me asking if I had a space they could put the ATM in,” he said.
“About a month ago, they contacted me to say the (three-year) lease would not be renewed.
“It has been used every day and at night ... you see people withdrawing cash after businesses have closed for the day,” Mr Tallis said.