December 6, 2001
New ATM options coming soon
By Steve Hill
University Week
Consider it money in the bank.
The UW has reached an agreement with three area banking facilities that will make automated banking more convenient and a lot easier on the bottom line. By mid-February new automated teller machines for Bank of America and the Washington State Employees Credit Union will be placed on campus. Those will join the several US Bank machines and two from Washington Mutual that are already in place.
By increasing choices, officials hope to decrease the number of fees paid by faculty, staff and students, many of whom currently are forced to bank at a machine not run by their home bank or leave campus altogether for their banking. Most of those who choose to pay must cough up a $1.50 fee to their bank and another $1.50 to the bank that runs the machine.
“It’s a double-edged sword,” said Eric Mendelsohn of the UW Real Estate Office, which is representing the University in final negotiations with the banks. “For $20 people have to pay a $3 fee. That’s incredible.”
But since the first installation of what was then a Seafirst Bank automated teller machine more than two decades ago, the UW had been bound to the bank. That changed last week when a 21-year exclusivity clause with what is now US Bank came to an end.
A committee of UW officials, led by Mendelsohn, had been considering bids since September. Their goals were to increase the number and variety of automated teller machines on campus, to keep at least one branch bank, and to get some no-fee machines on campus.
“US Bank made a stunning offer,” Mendelsohn said.
The bank will double the rent it had been paying for its automated teller machines and the branch location in the HUB. Additionally the bank will donate some proceeds to a UW student organization and continue a practice of employing and training students.
Both sides are glad to maintain their longtime relationship.
“Being on campus is a tremendous benefit,” according to Buck Brown, who manages the campus location. “It’s a benefit, not just to deal with the faculty and staff, but especially dealing with students. As students grow, we’ll be able to provide more and more services. So to provide banking for them now is a great investment for us.”
It’s a good investment for students too. Brown himself is a UW graduate. The tellers on staff are all UW students, who, according to Brown, gain valuable experience on the job.
Bank of America and Washington State Employees Credit Union also made good bids, according to Mendelsohn. The credit union will offer no-fee machines, which means at the most it will cost bankers $1.50.
“For years, the student government, the faculty, and the administration have said ‘Let’s be sure we do something about this as soon as we can.’ ”
In fact, UW students put it in writing in the form of a Student Senate resolution on Jan. 23. That statement urged including “the largest possible number of financial institutions’ ATMs on campus be the University’s first priority in the upcoming renegotiation of the University ATM services contract, regardless of financial incentives.”
The resolution went on to specify that ATMs from no less than two financial institutions be located on campus.
The final deal will accomplish that and then some. There will be ATMs from three institutions widely available on campus, plus the two Washington Mutual machines already located in the Medical Center. And, the new deals will increase UW revenues generated from the machines by about 50 percent, according to Mendelsohn.
The new automated teller machines will likely be located at the HUB, in the ByGeorge Café, at the Medical Center and on the Bothell and Tacoma campuses. In all the UW will gain between six and 12 of the machines, according to Mendelsohn.
