WBTV 3 News, Weather, Sports, and Traffic for Charlotte, NC-New ATMs Signal Arrival of Wells Fargo

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - Charlotte is among the first cities on the East Coast to receive ATMs developed by Wells Fargo that can accept stacks of cash or checks without envelopes and even sell postage stamps around the clock.

The new machines are the most visible sign of the conversion under way as a result of the merger of Wachovia and Wells Fargo late last year.

The installation of 587 new Envelope-free ATMs throughout North Carolina, including 106 in Charlotte, is scheduled start Thursday at 10 AM and will be completed by March 2010.

To take advantage of the new ATMs, customers simply slip a stack of cash - up to 50 bills in different denominations - into the ATM slot and the machine sorts, counts and verifies the amount.

Customers may also deposit a stack of up to 30 checks into the machine and the ATM sorts and reads each check and displays a digital image of the check on the ATM screen and on the receipt. Many other banks require consumers to feed checks into the machine one by one-like vending machines - which can be slow and cumbersome.

Other features include:

• Six language screen options (English, Spanish, Chinese, Hmong, Korean, Vietnamese);
• Voice instructions for the visually impaired in English and Spanish;
• Account transfers and mini-statements;
• U.S. postage stamps in many of the ATMs. (Wells Fargo is the largest financial services retailer of postage stamps in the country.)