Wells Fargo, the third largest bank here in the United States, is rolling out the ability to use your Android phone or iPhone to withdraw funds from any of their 13,000 ATMs nationally. The new feature will be in place starting Monday, March 27th. It is yet another step towards technology in the banking sector, a sector notoriously slow at adopting new technologies. That is particularly true here in the US where Chip-and-PIN terminals are just now making their way into retailers.
How the new system will work is straightforward. In the Wells Fargo app, you will be able to request an 8-digit code which you then enter into the ATM. You will then have to enter your personal PIN for your account and once it is verified, your funds will be provided. This means that you can withdraw cash from your account even if you forgot your bank card.
It’s also safer. To withdraw the funds you have to authenticate yourself with the 8-digit code and your personal PIN plus, because it is all on your phone and contactless with your card, you don’t
Wells Fargo app for Android
have to worry about rogue skimming tools that may have been installed on the ATM itself. It’s the same thinking behind Android Pay and Apple Pay frankly and it is good to see a major bank rolling out these types of features to customers.
Perhaps the best news in all of this is that you won’t have to go hunt down that one ATM from Wells Fargo in town that has this feature. All 13,000 of their machines have the technology built into them to handle this new feature. Well done. If you are a customer of the bank, make sure you have the lasted build of the app from the Play Store or the App Store.
