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“But it’s my money!” may be your thought upon withdrawing money from an ATM and discovering that you’ve been hit with a charge. Sometimes, even two charges: One from your bank (which may charge you a few dollars at out-of-network terminals) and one by the operator of the ATM (which can again add a few dollars).

Think about it: If you assessed two $3 fees when using an out-of-network machine to grab $40, you’ve paid $6 or 15% of the amount withdrawn just to get that cash into your pocket.

Fortunately, you can avoid ATM fees. Try these seven simple techniques.

7 Ways to Avoid ATM Fees

Service charges are fairly common these days. You are probably used to getting hit with them when you order movie or concert tickets online, for instance. But if you are merely taking out your very own dollars from an ATM, you likely don’t want to pay for that privilege.

While it may not be possible to always avoid these fees, particularly if you travel frequently, there are some smart strategies for evading those charges. Follow this advice.

Planning Ahead

Before heading out for the day or evening, consider whether or not you may need cash. Some independent restaurants, stores, and barber shops still operate as cash-only businesses. So if you’re testing out a new spot, you may want to check the website so you’re prepared with cash if needed.

If an establishment only accepts cash and you don’t have any, you may get stuck using the nearest ATM, which may result in double fees. It can also be a good idea to get some cash in advance (fee-free) if you’re going to a restaurant, gas station, or store that offers a discount for paying cash.

Choosing Restaurants That Take Credit Cards

A corollary to the above tip is to scope out a restaurant’s payment policies before you head out to dinner. It’s no secret that dining out can be a big expense (especially if you order that nice bottle of wine). Nor is it privileged information that many eateries are cash-only.

It’s wise to check the restaurant’s situation beforehand to make sure they take plastic. Otherwise, you will likely be forced to use the closest ATM, which can get pricey.

Taking Money Out Before Going Out

Another way to avoid ATM fees when dining out: Hit up the cash machine en route or earlier in the week. That way, you know you are covered.

Recommended: Pros & Cons of Living Cash-Only

2. Using Your Bank’s ATMs

Taking some time to familiarize yourself with your bank’s closest ATM locations (considering both home and work) can save you money and hassle down the line. There may be a location finder tool on the bank’s website or app, or you can do a general web search, or even use your phone’s maps app.

Generally, the larger, national banks will have more options for branded ATMs than smaller, regional institutions. Banks of all sizes, however, often partner with large ATM networks in order to expand their customers’ options and provide them with a fee-free banking experience.

3. Finding Partner ATMs

Another way to avoid out-of-network ATM fees is to find those terminals with which your bank has a relationship.

The biggest advantage of partnership networks is the potentially vast number of fee-free ATM locations available. Some of the largest networks even include ATMs in locations like convenience stores, pharmacies, and retailers.

If your bank partners with an ATM network, you may be able to perform ATM transactions at their terminals without getting hit with any fees from your bank, though some locations may still collect ATM surcharges. It can be wise to familiarize yourself with the policies before you start regularly hitting the machines for cash.

The easiest way to find your bank’s partners is to check the back of your debit card. If you see a logo for Allpoint, for example, you can search their app for the closest of their 55,000-plus locations.

This doesn’t automatically mean that your transaction will be entirely fee-free, but either your bank or the partner may waive charges. It’s a good idea to check with your bank for details.

Bank Partner ATMs Explained

What are bank partner ATMs? This means that there is a relationship between your bank and their partner and you can likely use their ATMs fee-free.

These kinds of partnerships can exist for various reasons. Perhaps you bank at a relatively small, local bank network. They may team up with a larger network of ATMs to make it more convenient for customers to get cash on the go.

Or perhaps you bank at an online bank, which doesn’t have brick-and-mortar locations but wants to provide access to cash machines. Their partner network can provide terminals fee-free, a nice perk for the bank’s clients.

4. Taking Out More Than You Need

How else to avoid ATM fees? Consider that ATM fees are typically per transaction, so one easy way to avoid extra charges is to withdraw more cash than you need. This is particularly true when traveling overseas, where surcharges can be significantly higher than domestic ATM fees. The downside is that you may feel uncomfortable keeping a bunch of cash on hand.

The Benefits of Less Frequent Withdrawals

Making less frequent withdrawals can have a few pros:

•   Saves you time thanks to fewer visits to the ATM

•   Costs you less in fees (if they are assessed)

•   Can help with budgeting; taking one larger lump sum may focus you more on your spending vs. grabbing $20 here and there without realizing how much cash you are going through.

Recommended: ATM Withdrawal Limits – What You Need to Know

5. Getting Cash Back

If you need cash and aren’t near one of your bank’s ATMs, you may be able to avoid paying an ATM fee by finding a nearby grocery store, gas station, or large retailer. Many of these retailers offer cash back when you make a purchase using your debit card.

If you go this route, you’ll need to make a purchase (ideally for something you need) and ask for cash back. The cashier will add the amount of cash you want to the purchase price and give it to use as cash, typically without charging any fee.

Where Can You Get Cash Back?

Many retailers allow you to ask for cash back, often with a stated maximum amount. You might be able to get cash when making a purchase at:

•   Gas stations

•   Grocery stores/supermarkets

•   Large retailers, such as Target, Walmart, and Costco.

6. Choosing a Different Bank

Not all banks charge out-of-network ATM fees. If you’re getting hit with fees, especially double fees, you may want to consider switching to an institution that has a larger ATM network, doesn’t charge ATM fees, and/or refunds ATM fees charged by machine providers.

Some banks will reimburse up to a certain amount every month in fees charged by an out-of-network provider. If you suspect you’ll use non-network ATMs frequently, you may want to consider a bank that will refund you.

Some Banks Reimburse ATM Fees

The banking industry is changing, and several players now embrace the idea of reimbursing ATM fees. This puts the customer first. It also addresses the fact that online-only financial institutions are getting more popular; this means there are no bank-owned terminals because there are no brick-and-mortar locations.

Recommended: Cardless Money Withdrawal

7. Using Personal Payment Apps to Pay Your Friends

With peer-to-peer (P2P) payment apps like Venmo, you can often avoid a trip to the ATM entirely. Once you set up an account and link your bank account, it’s easy to move money directly from your account to your friends’ accounts. Your bank may also have its own P2P payment app.

Open a SoFi Checking and Savings Account

ATM fees can be annoying and add up quickly. But, fortunately, this is usually an avoidable expense.

One way to avoid ATM fees is to do some research on where your financial institution’s branded ATMs are located in your area, as well as ATMs that are in their partner networks. Other options include using payment apps or asking for cash back at a retail cash register when it’s available.

Interested in opening an online bank account? When you sign up for a SoFi Checking and Savings account with direct deposit, you’ll get a competitive annual percentage yield (APY), pay zero account fees, and enjoy an array of rewards, such as access to the Allpoint Network of 55,000+ fee-free ATMs globally. Qualifying accounts can even access their paycheck up to two days early.

Better banking is here with SoFi, NerdWallet’s 2024 winner for Best Checking Account Overall.* Enjoy up to 4.60% APY on SoFi Checking and Savings.

FAQ

How do you avoid paying fees at an ATM?

There are several ways to avoid paying ATM fees, For instance, you might only use in-network or partner bank ATMs, carry cash, and/or use credit cards or P2P payment apps.

Is it free to withdraw cash from ATMs?

It should be free to withdraw cash from an ATM provided you use your bank’s or its partner bank’s network. If you use an out-of-network terminal, however, you could pay a fee to both your bank and the machine’s operator.

Why do some ATMs charge you for withdrawing money?

You may be charged a fee if you use an out-of-network ATM. Because you are not a member of the bank providing the terminal, they can assess a charge to handle your transaction. In addition, free-standing ATM machines are a for-profit enterprise, offering the convenience of cash while earning a fee on every transaction.

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SoFi members with direct deposit activity can earn 4.60% annual percentage yield (APY) on savings balances (including Vaults) and 0.50% APY on checking balances. Direct Deposit means a deposit to an account holder’s SoFi Checking or Savings account, including payroll, pension, or government payments (e.g., Social Security), made by the account holder’s employer, payroll or benefits provider or government agency (“Direct Deposit”) via the Automated Clearing House (“ACH”) Network during a 30-day Evaluation Period (as defined below). Deposits that are not from an employer or government agency, including but not limited to check deposits, peer-to-peer transfers (e.g., transfers from PayPal, Venmo, etc.), merchant transactions (e.g., transactions from PayPal, Stripe, Square, etc.), and bank ACH funds transfers and wire transfers from external accounts, do not constitute Direct Deposit activity. There is no minimum Direct Deposit amount required to qualify for the stated interest rate.

SoFi members with Qualifying Deposits can earn 4.60% APY on savings balances (including Vaults) and 0.50% APY on checking balances. Qualifying Deposits means one or more deposits that, in the aggregate, are equal to or greater than $5,000 to an account holder’s SoFi Checking and Savings account (“Qualifying Deposits”) during a 30-day Evaluation Period (as defined below). Qualifying Deposits only include those deposits from the following eligible sources: (i) ACH transfers, (ii) inbound wire transfers, (iii) peer-to-peer transfers (i.e., external transfers from PayPal, Venmo, etc. and internal peer-to-peer transfers from a SoFi account belonging to another account holder), (iv) check deposits, (v) instant funding to your SoFi Bank Debit Card, (vi) push payments to your SoFi Bank Debit Card, and (vii) cash deposits. Qualifying Deposits do not include: (i) transfers between an account holder’s Checking account, Savings account, and/or Vaults; (ii) interest payments; (iii) bonuses issued by SoFi Bank or its affiliates; or (iv) credits, reversals, and refunds from SoFi Bank, N.A. (“SoFi Bank”) or from a merchant.

SoFi Bank shall, in its sole discretion, assess each account holder’s Direct Deposit activity and Qualifying Deposits throughout each 30-Day Evaluation Period to determine the applicability of rates and may request additional documentation for verification of eligibility. The 30-Day Evaluation Period refers to the “Start Date” and “End Date” set forth on the APY Details page of your account, which comprises a period of 30 calendar days (the “30-Day Evaluation Period”). You can access the APY Details page at any time by logging into your SoFi account on the SoFi mobile app or SoFi website and selecting either (i) Banking > Savings > Current APY or (ii) Banking > Checking > Current APY. Upon receiving a Direct Deposit or $5,000 in Qualifying Deposits to your account, you will begin earning 4.60% APY on savings balances (including Vaults) and 0.50% on checking balances on or before the following calendar day. You will continue to earn these APYs for (i) the remainder of the current 30-Day Evaluation Period and through the end of the subsequent 30-Day Evaluation Period and (ii) any following 30-day Evaluation Periods during which SoFi Bank determines you to have Direct Deposit activity or $5,000 in Qualifying Deposits without interruption.

SoFi Bank reserves the right to grant a grace period to account holders following a change in Direct Deposit activity or Qualifying Deposits activity before adjusting rates. If SoFi Bank grants you a grace period, the dates for such grace period will be reflected on the APY Details page of your account. If SoFi Bank determines that you did not have Direct Deposit activity or $5,000 in Qualifying Deposits during the current 30-day Evaluation Period and, if applicable, the grace period, then you will begin earning the rates earned by account holders without either Direct Deposit or Qualifying Deposits until you have Direct Deposit activity or $5,000 in Qualifying Deposits in a subsequent 30-Day Evaluation Period. For the avoidance of doubt, an account holder with both Direct Deposit activity and Qualifying Deposits will earn the rates earned by account holders with Direct Deposit.

Members without either Direct Deposit activity or Qualifying Deposits, as determined by SoFi Bank, during a 30-Day Evaluation Period and, if applicable, the grace period, will earn 1.20% APY on savings balances (including Vaults) and 0.50% APY on checking balances.

Interest rates are variable and subject to change at any time. These rates are current as of 10/24/2023. There is no minimum balance requirement. Additional information can be found at https://www.sofi.com/legal/banking-rate-sheet.

Financial Tips & Strategies: The tips provided on this website are of a general nature and do not take into account your specific objectives, financial situation, and needs. You should always consider their appropriateness given your own circumstances.

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Futures contracts are a type of financial derivative that investors use to speculate on the price of a security at a forthcoming date. These typically trade on separate futures exchanges, which allow for higher volumes of trading.

Futures are a type of derivative, and trading futures and other options contracts requires an advanced level of trading and market knowledge. That said, investors would do well to know the basics of futures contracts, so that they can determine whether they have a place in their investing strategy.

What Is a Futures Contract?

Futures contracts, or futures, are legal agreements to either buy or sell a given security, commodity, or asset at a specific time in the future, for a previously agreed-upon price. For investors, they offer access to commodities and other markets they might not be able to access otherwise. They can also act as a way to protect against volatility.

One important feature of a future contract is that both buyers and sellers can execute the contract regardless of the current market price of the underlying asset when the contract expires.

Investors use futures contracts when they believe that the underlying security will go up or down by a certain amount of time over a fixed period of time. The futures contract buyer enters a legal agreement to buy the underlying asset at the contract’s expiration date. On the other side of the trade, the futures contract seller agrees to deliver the underlying security at the agreed-upon price, when the contract expires.

The majority of futures contracts on a futures exchange are standardized by date and price, to allow for higher trading volumes and simpler transactions.

Investors can buy futures contracts to make money — or to hedge against losses — resulting from the price increases or decreases in stocks and commodities like oil, as well as other financial instruments.


💡 Quick Tip: In order to profit from purchasing a stock, the price has to rise. But an options account offers more flexibility, and an options trader might gain if the price rises or falls. This is a high-risk strategy, and investors can lose money if the trade moves in the wrong direction.

How Do Futures Contracts Work?

In a futures contract, the purchaser gets to buy a given asset at a predetermined price. That can help protect against big price swings up or down, making them popular not only with investors, but with companies that rely on commodities that experience sudden price changes.

Example of a Futures Contract

An airline, for example, might buy an oil futures contract to lock in the price of the oil that it will need to buy in order to get its jets off the ground in the coming months. Purchasing the futures contract allows the airline to guard against the financial harm of a sudden rise in the price of fuel. The risk to the airline, however, is that oil prices will go down – in which case, it will miss out on those lower prices.

On the other side of this hypothetical transaction is a fuel distributor, which has millions of gallons of oil in its inventory. It would sell the oil futures contract as a way of maintaining a steady market for its oil in the coming months. That’s because the airline buying the futures contract must buy the fuel at the agreed-upon price on the dates specified in the contract. That removes some risk for the oil distributor, but it also creates a risk if oil prices climb before the futures contract expires. Should that happen, the oil distributor will still have to sell the oil at the lower price specified in the futures contract.

To stay with this example, in the futures contract, the airline and the oil distributor will set and agree upon the terms, specifically the price of the oil and the expiration date upon which the contract expires. In this contract, the distributor agrees to sell 1,000 barrels of oil at $50 per barrel, in exactly 90 days. If the price of oil in 90 days is $75 per barrel, then the airline will have gotten a good deal. If a barrel of oil falls to $35, then the oil supplier will have protected itself against the price declines.

What’s the Difference Between Futures and Options?

Futures and options are both derivative contracts. However, futures contracts oblige the buyer or seller to complete the deal at the contract’s expiration, while options contracts give traders the right but not always the obligation to execute the contract when it expires.

Recommended: 10 Important Options Trading Strategies

Both futures and options share some of the same trading terminology. For example, both investors in both types of derivatives will need to consider its bid-ask price. The bid price is the highest price a buyer will pay for the contract, while the ask price is what the seller will accept.

Investors can also purchase options on future contracts. In a call option on a future, the buyer has the right to buy a futures contract at a specific price at a specific future date. In a put option, the buyer has the right to sell the futures contract at a specific price at a specific date.

Futures Contracts Pros & Cons

Futures trading can be a profitable strategy, but it also has some drawbacks that investors should consider.

Benefits of Futures Contracts

•   Futures contracts act as a hedge against the risks related to price volatility.

•   Most futures markets are highly liquid, allowing traders to buy and sell when they want.

•   Futures may give investors access to commodities, and other markets not normally accessible to everyday investors.

•   Futures contract pricing is determined by adding the cost of carrying the underlying asset to its spot price.

Downsides of Futures Contracts

•   Futures contracts can be a high risk investment. In some cases, a futures contract can lose all of its value and trade at $0 when it expires.

•   Futures contracts can reduce or eliminate potential gains from price swings in the underlying securities or assets.

•   Futures contracts themselves are often highly volatile, with their prices fluctuating wildly.

•   You may have to pay high commission charges on high-volume trades.

How Investors Use Futures Contracts

But not everyone who buys an oil futures contract plans to take delivery of the oil it represents. Retail investors also use futures as a way to protect their investments against volatility. Those futures investors who buy and sell the contracts to make money off the price changes that the contracts themselves undergo.

To go back to the example of an oil futures contract, an investor owns a contract, and the price of oil rises, allowing the contract owner to buy oil for less than the market price. The investor will be able to sell that contract for more than they purchased it for. The investor will then sell the contract on the futures market.

Other investors use futures contracts related to other commodities, including corn, soybeans and wheat. But there are also futures markets where investors can buy futures contracts that offer them the ability to bet on the future of currencies, individual stocks or stock indices like the S&P 500 or 10-year Treasury bills. Investors may choose to buy futures, rather than the securities themselves, to reduce their volatility exposure.

How to Trade Futures Contracts

There are several steps to trading futures contracts.

1. Open a brokerage account

To trade futures contracts, the first thing you’ll need is a brokerage account. You may also need your broker to give approval for margin and options privileges in your account.

2. Set a trading strategy

Before jumping into the futures market, develop a strategy. That strategy could involve technical analysis based on market data, or fundamental analysis based on the investment’s underlying economic and financial trends.

Some investors even try out their strategy using hypothetical trades before they start trading with real money. This allows you to understand the risks of potential trades without actually losing money.

3. Research trades that make sense for your investment strategy

Most brokerages that offer futures trading have an online platform you can use to research specific securities and see futures contracts available to buy or sell.

4. Double-check the terms

Make sure that the contracts will do what you think. That means confirming the selling and purchase price of the contract, the expiration, and the fees.

5. Develop your skills

Whether doing it on paper, or with real money, you’ll want to refine your strategy over time. You may find that you make more profitable trades in a specific sector, for example, or need to work on staying calm as security prices rise and fall. Practice will allow you to improve, and get more out of the futures strategy you’ve developed.


💡 Quick Tip: Before opening any investment account, consider what level of risk you are comfortable with. If you’re not sure, start with more conservative investments, and then adjust your portfolio as you learn more.

The Takeaway

Futures contracts are a type of investment that can offer access to commodities markets, as well as a way to protect against volatility. They can be a helpful tool to some investors, but they’re also risky and can be an expensive way to invest.

Futures trading can be fun and profitable, but is incredibly risky. It’s also a high-level trading strategy, and one that may not be suited for beginning investors. If you’re curious about it, though, you may want to speak with a financial professional for guidance.

Ready to invest in your goals? It’s easy to get started when you open an investment account with SoFi Invest. You can invest in stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds, alternative funds, and more. SoFi doesn’t charge commissions, but other fees apply (full fee disclosure here).

For a limited time, opening and funding an Active Invest account gives you the opportunity to get up to $1,000 in the stock of your choice.

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Financial Tips & Strategies: The tips provided on this website are of a general nature and do not take into account your specific objectives, financial situation, and needs. You should always consider their appropriateness given your own circumstances.

Options involve risks, including substantial risk of loss and the possibility an investor may lose the entire amount invested in a short period of time. Before an investor begins trading options they should familiarize themselves with the Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options . Tax considerations with options transactions are unique, investors should consult with their tax advisor to understand the impact to their taxes.
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