ATM Finder

Pakistan caps the interbank fee, and the cap is low

The State Bank of Pakistan regulates what banks may charge at the machine, and the ceiling keeps the cost of using another bank's ATM modest by international standards. A withdrawal from a machine that is not your bank's typically costs between PKR 23.44 and PKR 25 per transaction, and withdrawals at your own bank's ATMs are free.

Because the amount is fixed and small, the usual advice about consolidating withdrawals matters less here than elsewhere. What matters more is the second category of charge, which most people never notice.

Checking your balance is not always free

Balance enquiries and mini statements carry charges of PKR 5 to PKR 25, and those charges can apply at your own bank's machine as well as at another bank's. It is a small amount that recurs, because checking the balance is the thing people do most often and think least about.

The banking app does the same job without a fee. Keeping enquiries on the phone and using the machine only for cash removes this cost entirely.

Schedules of charges are revised twice a year

Banks publish a Schedule of Charges and update it on a fixed cycle, with revisions taking effect from 1 January and 1 June under the State Bank's framework. The figures that applied when you opened the account are not necessarily the ones in force now.

The current schedule is published on each bank's own website and states the ATM charges line by line. Reading the current version takes a minute and is the only reliable answer to what your card costs you.

If the machine keeps your card or debits without dispensing

Note the time, the location and the ATM number, and keep the slip. Lodge the complaint with the bank that issued your card, not the bank whose name is on the machine — only the issuer can raise the dispute through the interbank switch and reverse the amount.

Where cash is debited but not dispensed, the reconciliation between the two banks usually identifies the mismatch on its own within a few working days. Register the complaint the same day regardless, so that you have a date and a reference number to follow up on.