Banking was a lot better when you could pay a small monthly fee and get a huge network of no-fee ATMs

My credit union and bank both used to have "basic" accounts that had a small monthly fee that could be avoided by meeting some conditions (e.g. having a direct deposit, minimum balance, a few debit card transactions per month).<br><br>I believe the credit union account was $5/month and the bank was $10/month. Both could be waived under these conditions.<br><br>Both had access to Allpoint and/or MoneyPass, giving me about 60,000 ATMs with no fees. You could also do a deposit at certain ATMs (e.g. Allpoint supported deposit at 7-11 locations).<br><br>I would occasionally use out of network ATMs and pay the $3 fee, which I saw as reasonable for the convenience in a pinch. But if I knew I was going to be out somewhere I didn't want to pay that fee so I would just go to the ATM on Allpoint.<br><br>But both my bank and credit union switched to digital-only banks with no-fee ATM access at Allpoint or MoneyPass, and they also removed the fee for using out of network ATMs.<br><br>I realize I'm the minority here but I find the infinite ATM fee rebates to be a hassle. They used to offer 2 rebates per statement cycle at $5 each (they would pay you up to $10 if you were charged an ATM fee).<br><br>But now they reimburse *every* ATM fee you're charged, but you have to go out of your way to request it.<br><br>So now I could get infinite rebates, but I have to be proactive for every single rebate, whereas before I could proactively avoid the fees and then get a small rebate if I was charged one.<br><br>I feel like the fees were a small price to pay for the convenience. But now I'm forced to be more aware of every single transaction.