5 On Your Side checks out ATMs of the future

Touch and contact-free adaptations of everyday items are everywhere now, as the less interaction and physical contact the better in the age of coronavirus.

5 On Your Side’s Monica Laliberte found that ATMs are headed in that direction also.

While it’s always good to have a little cash on hand, how it's obtained from an ATM will be changing.

Expect inserting cards into the machines to be replaced by scanning phones.

"We needed to go to something that was more App based," said David Tente, Executive Director for the ATM Industry Association.

Tente says instead of debits cards, next gen ATMs will use NFC technology.

It’s what’s used now when you wave a credit card near a terminal to pay.

"That same technology could be used to alert the ATM that you are there," said tente.

"You pre-stage a transaction you want to complete, and then everything else just happens between the customer and his phone and the ATM itself."

Tente says not only will it speed up transactions, but with no card, it will cut down on skimming and other fraud.

"In 2021, we’ll start to see … some deployment, particularly at some of the larger financial institutions," said Tente. "2025 is when we’re hoping that we reach ubiquity. In other words, we’re saying next gen ATM is pretty much all over the place."

So it’s a change that’s not here yet, but one that is coming.

Another effect of the pandemic on everyday banking has been longer lines at drive-thru ATMs.

Because fewer people are going into banks, one company told us repair calls for the tube devices jumped, and so did sales of the carriers, by 300%.