The UK's biggest mortgage lender HBOS yesterday joined calls for cash machines which charge consumers for withdrawals to be labelled.

The group, which includes Halifax and Bank of Scotland, said customers should know if they were being charged for a withdrawal before they started the transaction.

The issue came to the fore at a Link meeting last month when building society Nationwide called for warning labels to be put on all cash machines which charged for withdrawals.

But Link, which operates the cash machine network, has referred the matter to a sub-committee.

Rob Devey, head of banking at HBoS, said: "We are totally supportive of the idea of making customers aware of which ATMs place a surcharge on transactions.

"Consumers should know exactly what the charge is before they decide whether to use that machine."

Tuesday July 22, 2003