One Malaysian bank fee that annoyed almost everyone with more than one bank account is finally gone, and most people haven't noticed yet.
Since 1 July 2026, withdrawing cash from another bank's ATM or self-service recycler machine no longer costs RM1 a transaction — a change confirmed jointly by the Association of Banks in Malaysia, Islamic banking body AIBIM, and payments network operator PayNet, covering more than 14,000 machines nationwide with no cap on how many free withdrawals you make. It's a real win, not a promotional gimmick, and it quietly ends a fee that had been reinstated since February 2022, after being waived temporarily during the 2020 lockdown.
The fee had a long, slightly odd history before this. It originated through the MEPS interbank network as a way to recover the cost of running a shared ATM infrastructure across competing banks, got suspended as pandemic relief, then came back once that relief period ended — which is part of why this latest removal is being described as permanent rather than another temporary pause.
But one fee disappearing doesn't mean your account got cheaper overall. Here's what's gone, what's still very much active, and what's new this year under Malaysia's expanded service tax.
The one that's gone: interbank ATM withdrawal fee
If you're still budgeting around the old RM1-per-withdrawal rule for using a different bank's ATM, stop. It's been scrapped nationwide since July. Worth noting: some users have reported the old fee prompt still popping up on individual machines months after the change, so if you're charged, it's worth a complaint to your bank rather than an assumption that the rule reverted.
1. The foreign transaction fee on overseas purchases
This one never went away and rarely gets mentioned until a statement arrives. Several Malaysian banks charge around 1% on overseas online transactions specifically, on top of whatever currency conversion spread is already built into the exchange rate you're given. It applies whether you're booking a flight on a foreign site, paying a subscription billed overseas, or shopping on a platform based outside Malaysia — the fee is separate from, and stacks on top of, the exchange rate itself, so the number on your statement is rarely the number you calculated in your head at checkout.
2. Credit card cash advance fees (and they're moving)
Cash advances have always been one of the most expensive ways to access money on a credit card, and 2026 has been an active year for banks adjusting these fees rather than leaving them alone. Maybank revised its credit card cash advance fees from January 2026, while HSBC cut its cash advance fees from March 2026 — meaning the fee your card charged last year isn't necessarily the one it charges now. It's worth pulling up your card's current product disclosure sheet rather than relying on what you remember from a previous statement.
3. The RM25 annual service tax on your credit card
This is a government-imposed charge, not a bank markup, but it still comes out of your account once a year: a flat RM25 service tax on credit and charge cards, applied per card. It's separate from any annual fee your bank itself charges for the card, so a "free" no-annual-fee card can still carry this RM25 line once a year — it comes from tax law, not from your bank's own pricing, so switching cards or banks won't make it disappear.
4. The new 8% service tax on other card fees
Malaysia's service tax expansion, rolled out progressively from mid-2025 with banks completing system changes into 2026, added an 8% service tax on top of most other credit card fees and commissions — separate from the flat RM25 annual charge above. There's an important carve-out: punitive charges like late payment penalties, and interest or profit on credit facilities, are excluded from this particular tax. It applies more to service-type fees than to being late on a payment.
5. The 50 sen cheque processing fee
Cheques are a shrinking part of how Malaysians pay each other, but for anyone still writing them, a 50 sen processing fee applies every time a cheque is handled by a bank — whether it's cashed over the counter or deposited into an account — and it's charged to whoever wrote the cheque, not whoever's depositing it. The fee has technically been in place since 2015, but it resurfaces as a surprise for anyone who hasn't written a cheque in years and picks the habit back up for a deposit or a big-ticket purchase.
None of these fees are new tricks — most have existed for years, sitting quietly in product disclosure sheets nobody reads until something on a statement looks wrong. The genuinely new part of 2026 is the mix: one long-standing fee gone, one new tax layer added, and a few banks re-pricing cash advances in opposite directions within months of each other. Checking your own card's current fee schedule, rather than assuming last year's numbers still hold, is the only way to know which side of that mix you're on.
FAQ
Is the RM1 interbank ATM fee really gone for good?
Yes — the removal, effective 1 July 2026, is described by the banking associations involved as permanent rather than a temporary waiver, unlike the emergency waiver during the 2020 lockdown that was later reinstated in 2022.
Do digital banks like GXBank or Boost Bank charge these same fees?
Fee structures vary by institution and by product, so the specific amounts differ. It's worth checking each bank's own current fee schedule directly rather than assuming digital banks and traditional banks charge the same rates.
Does the RM25 credit card tax apply to debit cards too?
No — this particular annual service tax is charged on credit and charge cards specifically, not on standard debit cards.
Will I be charged the 8% service tax on my annual credit card fee?
The RM25 charge discussed above is a separate, flat annual tax rather than a percentage. The newer 8% service tax applies to other card-related fees and commissions, with punitive charges like late payment penalties specifically excluded.
How do I check what my own bank actually charges me?
Every licensed bank publishes a fees-and-charges or product disclosure document, usually available as a PDF on its website or on request at a branch — that document, not a general roundup like this one, has the exact figures for your specific card or account.
Malaysia's digital banks built part of their pitch around undercutting fees like these, credit card terms have already shifted once this year through several other 2026 changes, and if fees feel like they're creeping in from every direction lately, the same is true of what's actually printed on a TNB bill.
