What is an ATM?

Earlier how many times did it use to happen that you were shopping and ran out of cash? You had to miss out on something favorite in the sale because you did not have a credit card also? Well your frustration was heard or experienced by someone else too and thus we got the ATM. The automated teller machine, will give you your very own money at locations away from your bank.

There could be just about any emergency happening to you and you might not be carrying the cash required. Had it not been for the ATM you would be left stranded. This machine is designed to dispense cash to bank customers and removes the need for human interaction.

It’s not just that you can withdraw money from it the ATM machine also allows you to make deposits in your account, make transactions from one account to another and also provides other basic financial services. Its also not that ATMs are located always away from the banks. There are ATMs at most bank branches that customers can seek the services 24 Hrs as per their needs.

This saves both the customer and the bank paper work which was earlier needed to withdraw money. Money can now be obtained with the help of a plastic ATM card and a pin number issued by the bank to the card holder.

ATMs are most commonly found in public places like markets, hospitals, entertainment complexes, even roadsides because if someone is traveling and needs money for fuel or whatever reason. The added advantage of ATMs is that they are 24Hrs and thus very helpful at odd hours too. Emergencies don’t ask the time before coming.

Also banks are not open at odd hours thus if money is required on an immediate basis then it could create a big problem if there was no ATM around. The plastic card issued for the purposes of operating the ATM machine looks similar to a credit card which is swapped on a hand machine. This card which is designed to work with ATMs is used by feeding it into the machine; the machine reads the magnetic strip on the card and then requests the PIN number.

The Pin is the security for the card in case it is lost or stolen. If stolen, then the card holder should inform the bank about it and then the card is freezed by the bank authorities.

Once the machine accepts the card, the customer can see certain choices on the machine user interface. Through screen touch or touch buttons the customer is required to complete the transaction and then whatever the transaction, withdrawal or deposit there are slots provided for both, a receipt is issued by the machine for the customer.

Phones are not allowed to be used near ATM machines for security purposes and there is obviously an armed guard near the machine. The machine has a record system that is tied up with the bank to which the machine belongs and it automatically reduces or increases the balance of the accounts as per the transactions carried out.