Comments on: Can You Enter Any Bank After Hours With Credit Cards?

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 25 May 2007 10:58:20 +0000

i concur, this has been reality for a very long time if not since inception. in fact, when i was in college and went to NYC for the weekend, we use to crash out in the atm rooms for an hour or two.

By: some guy

some guy — Fri, 25 May 2007 05:29:27 +0000

Needing a card is indeed simply to keep out the homeless. Not that it works very well.

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 25 May 2007 03:50:12 +0000

What Blaine said is correct. Any bank/atm simply requires a card of any sort with a magnetic strip. License, Debit/Credit, Movie Theater Card, etc. They all work.

By: Tyler

Tyler — Thu, 24 May 2007 21:31:51 +0000

I’ve seen people open those doors with gym membership card as well as student/employee ID cards. Not sure if this is true of every bank or not.

By: Punny Money

Punny Money — Thu, 24 May 2007 16:05:19 +0000

Heh, I read the title and thought you were jimmying open the bank door with your card.

By: Blaine Moore (First Time Home Owner)

Blaine Moore (First Time Home Owner) — Thu, 24 May 2007 15:10:15 +0000

Anything with a magnetic strip will work. I used to use my student ID to get in since that was usually the first thing I could pop out of my wallet. It doesn’t care what you use; just htat you use something.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 24 May 2007 14:52:43 +0000

The bank will likely allow you to gain entry as long as you have a card that is valid in any of the networks their ATM is part of. With the prevalence of fees on non-customers these days, it would be a bad move to keep someone out who is an in-network, non-customer. And I’m sure they log every time you swipe in as well. Another piece of information they have if damage occurs, or what not.

By: MoneyFwd

MoneyFwd — Thu, 24 May 2007 14:37:33 +0000

I’m pretty sure it’s just to keep the homeless out and to keep out unintelligent vandals and criminals.

It’s also possible that a driver’s license with a magnetic strip will work, although I’ve never tried it.

By: Curtis

Curtis — Thu, 24 May 2007 14:27:31 +0000

I don’t see any reason why banks wouldn’t let you in with a credit card — if you aren’t a customer, they get to charge you the “foreign” ATM fee for the transaction, and if it’s that bank’s card they get the cash advance fee too. It’s probably quite lucrative to allow credit card holders into ATM vestibules.

Also, I can imagine a potentially negative story for banks that read something like this: John Smith was in dire need of cash and only had a credit card. There was a Big Bad Bank ATM nearby, but he couldn’t get to it because his credit card wasn’t accepted by the card scanner — the bank only lets its OWN customers use its ATMs. Mr. Smith died (or had something else really bad happen to him) because Big Bad Bank wouldn’t let him get a credit card cash advance at their ATM….

By: ming

ming — Thu, 24 May 2007 14:26:05 +0000

Any credit card works. That’s how you can get cash advance from the CC.

By: Catrijn

Catrijn — Thu, 24 May 2007 14:24:45 +0000

BofA ATM machines are connected to other ATM networks like Cirrus, STAR, Plus!, etc.

Chances are, your Citi mtvU card supports one of those networks. So, since you could have legitimate business with the ATM machine even though you are not a BofA customer, you were allowed to come in.

By: Brent T. Dukes

Brent T. Dukes — Thu, 24 May 2007 13:46:16 +0000

I think you can use just about any credit card because you can use a normal credit card in the ATM if you’re really desperate for cash

By: Klarla

Klarla — Thu, 24 May 2007 13:44:16 +0000

Maybe they just log the name on the card to a DB. If there’s trouble, they have a list of “persons of interest”. Of course, it wouldn’t help if the card is stolen.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 24 May 2007 13:36:55 +0000

I think the previous comment sums it up best – the banks want ATM fees. Any card should get you access to the ATM because a bank is a business and anyone with an ATM card is a potential customer. At $1-3 per transaction, that can add up very quickly!

An ATM kiosk would make a great shelter for a homeless person, so that is another great point.

By: Catrijn

Catrijn — Thu, 24 May 2007 13:35:21 +0000

This is well known, it’s always been this way. No need to check since the ATM areas are secure, and they are happy to let another banks cards be used in the machines (=fees) even credit cards have pins. So as long as you have a card, you can get in.