PayThink

Financial institutions that participate in state-administered EBT programs have a unique opportunity to put more money in the pockets of the nation’s neediest by eliminating surcharge fees on their ATMs.

This is already happening in California, where a coalition of community groups and social service providers — known as the EBT Avengers — came together to encourage banks to provide free ATM access to low-income families who receive EBT benefits through the state. In that state, EBT card users were paying more than $20 million per year on ATM access fees according to the California Reinvestment Coalition.