The days of easy banking at the grocery store or other retailers may be nearing an end.
Kroger Co. and other major discount retailers are now tacking on a fee for what many customers had begun to take for granted: The option to withdraw cash as part of their purchase transaction.
The practice enables customers to skip a trip to the bank to get some cold, hard cash.
But for the business, the transaction is no longer making the best business sense.
FOX Business has the story:
The CFPB said Tuesday that Kroger Co. and two major discount retail companies levy fees against consumers when they withdraw cash during transactions using their debit or prepaid cards.
The federal agency said it observed that Kroger Co., Dollar General and Dollar Tree Inc impose “cash-back” fees on customers at their respective brands as part of a larger CFPB report looking at the practices of eight big retailers.
The CFPB said it did the analysis of eight retailers’ “cash-back” fee policies “to establish a baseline” because there was a lack of publicly available data about “cash-back” fees.
The Kroger Co.’s fee for customers to get “cash back” during transactions using their debit or prepaid cards amounted to 75 cents for retrieving less than $100 and $3 for more than $100 at Harris Teeter stores, according to the CFPB. At for its other brands, CFPB found it was $50 cents for less than $100 and $3.50 for above that.
Meanwhile, Dollar General has a $1 to $2.50 fee for getting cash at the register “depending on amount and other variables,” the agency said.
The CFPB said customers who get cash at Dollar Tree face a $1 fee for the service. The company also owns Family Dollar, where the agency pegged the fee at $1.50.
The collective amount that the three companies charge in “cash back” fees totals an estimated $90 million annually, according to the CFPB.