Murray King is not happy the institution charges $3 for non-Hume members to use its Albury airport ATM.

“There’s a misconception that just because you’re at an airport you have a right to charge exorbitant fees,” Cr King said.

“This is a 50 per cent increase on the Hume ATM at the Newmarket store that has a $2 fee and is 1.5 kilometres away.

“I can’t see the cost to maintain the ATM at the airport would be any higher.”

Cr King believes the $3 fee for the airport’s only ATM gives a poor image of the city to visitors travelling by air.

He has been raising his concerns with Hume Bank since last year and received an email on Thursday from the bank’s risk and compliance manager Lisa Forsyth.

“We are satisfied that the ATM fee is appropriate for the convenience offered to those who are not customer (sic) of Hume Bank,” Ms Forsyth wrote.

“Any individual that does not hold an account with Hume that uses our ATM is advised prior to finalising a transaction, of the fee that will be incurred, with the option to cancel the transaction if they choose.

“Hume advises that we have no plans to reduce these fees at the current time, and as a result, consider the matter closed.”

Cr King plans to keep fighting to have it cut, noting a $2 fee applies at ATMs at Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Darwin airports.

“If anyone was going to be charging higher fees it would be capital city airports,” he said.

“From what I’ve seen Hume Bank has the dubious distinction of having the highest ATM fees in Australia at an airport.”

Hume Bank’s acting chief executive Andrew de Graaff said fees averaged $2.50.

“For Albury airport the $3 fee is what we feel was an appropriate charge for that location,” Mr de Graaff said.

“That ATM runs at a loss and we’re trying to best manage that impost of how it runs, while providing that convenience for customers.”

Mr de Graaff said the airport machine was not the only Hume ATM that had a $3 fee, that amount also applies to foreign transactions at the bank’s mobile unit used at markets and other community events.

Asked if he would axe the airport ATM because it was unprofitable, Mr de Graaff said he “would be loathe to consider removing it” given its convenience to members. 

Passengers had mixed views on the fee.

Hume customer Amelia Watson, of Albury, said she didn’t think it was unreasonable given she paid $2.50 to use ATMs in capital cities, but Wodonga’s Jim Toole said “it’s a bit of a rip-off”.