ATM cards(2)

we shall discuss ATM cards again later in the book. because they are now widely issued by building societies. in 2000, there were 24170 bank ATMs (over 7,000 of which were located away from bank branches)plus well over 4,000 building society ATMs; 50m bank debit cards;and 50m bank credit cards. The statistics show that there is increasing demand for ATMs situated at supermarkets,motorway services and airports and increasing use of 'cash back' facilities offered by retailers.
ATM queries were,at first,the largest single type of complaint handled by the Banking Ombudsman,now the Financial services Ombudsman (banking and loans)and PINs must never be revealed to third parties or written where they might be seen by anyone other than the customer. Revealing a PIN would constitute 'gross negligence' on the part of a customer.
It is widely acknowledged now that 'phantom withdrawals' are possible without customers being either dishonest or negligent.Number of ATM complaints to the banking Ombudsman have fallen considerably in recent years, especially since the banks agreed to limit customer loss on card fraud to English pound 50 (in line with credit cards)where cards are lost or stolen and the customer has not been negligent with the PIN.
Many debit cards in issue are also members of Europe-wide or worldwide networks such as MAESTRO and CIRRUS (both linked to MasterCard) to allow use overseas.