Talking ATMs
The ability to manage your own finances and remain independent is essential. To support this, we want ATMs in the UK to talk to customers.
Our 'Make Money Talk' campaign has had some real success working with major high street banks to encourage them to make their cash machines and branches accessible to blind and partially sighted people. Currently the following banks provide talking ATMs at most of their branches:
- Barclays
- Lloyds
- Halifax
- Sainsbury’s bank
- TSB
- Nationwide
- Santander
Some ATMs provided by Pay Point inside convenience stores also talk.
We are currently also working with HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland who are committing to providing talking ATMs in the future.
How do talking ATMs work?
- You need to have a pair of earphones with you to use a talking ATM. Any standard earphones will work like the ones you get with a mobile phone or MP3 player. Some banks will give you a pair of earphones you can keep and use at any talking ATM if you don’t have a pair.
- Each talking ATM has a headphone jack, usually placed on the right hand side of the screen. Some headphone jacks are shaped like a wedge sticking out slightly others are flush to the ATM but have a round button next to them.
- Once you plug your earphones into the ATM all you need to do is follow the instructions it gives you.
- You can use any ATM that talks, not just your own bank’s ATMs. But if you would like to try an ATM in a quiet environment, ask a local branch if you can be shown how to use one inside first.
- Another good tip is to only put one earphone in one of your ears, that way you can hear the instructions but also hear what is going on around you.
To find out where your nearest talking ATM is, visit the Link website where you can search by town or post code.
