BANGOR – Spurred by customers who say they are fed up with being nickel-and-dimed by bank fees, Bangor Savings Bank is eliminating its charges for ATM transactions and then going one step further.

It will also reimburse the fees charged by other banks whose ATMs are used by BSB customers.

“We have been paying attention to what customers are saying about their wants and needs from Maine banks,” said Yellow Light Breen, spokesman and senior vice president of the bank. “People hate fees … and in particular they hate bank fees charged for accessing their own money.”

Starting Dec. 1, Bangor Savings Bank customers will have free transactions at the more than 1,300 ATMs in Maine and the 1.6 million ATMs worldwide.

“We suspect this is going to be a trend to attract and retain customers and we wanted to be the market leader,” said Breen.

Chris Pinkham, president of Maine Association of Community Banks, said he’s heard of banks outside of the state doing this, but believes Bangor is the first Maine bank to do so. Other Maine banks and credit unions have a shared arrangement where customers won’t be charged ATM fees if they use ATMs from within their network. He noted that Mechanics Savings Bank has an arrangement with Bank of America for free use of its ATMs, but he was unaware of any bank that offered free ATM transactions regardless of the machine used.

“And reimbursing a customer for fees charged by any other (bank) … I can’t think of one doing that. It’s an interesting competitive move,” he said.

Breen said the reimbursements will be handled electronically. When a Bangor customer withdraws money from a non-BSB ATM, the fee (generally $1.50 or so) imposed by the ATM will be added back to the customer’s account, probably at the same time the withdrawal is recorded.

He said he expects customers will like the initiative, especially those who travel and want the convenience of using the nearest available ATM.

“This levels the playing field for us with the big national banks,” he said. “A customer who likes using a local bank can now go to Florida for the winter and won’t have any problem accessing his money.”

Breen declined to reveal what the change will cost Bangor Savings Bank, but noted the bank processes more than 200,000 ATM transactions per year from non-Bangor Savings Bank ATMs. At a $1.50 per transaction, that adds up to $300,000 a year in lost revenue, without adding in the reimbursement cost.

All together, the costs are “pretty substantial,” he said.

Breen said the ATM initiative is the bank’s latest attempt to meet customer demands. Earlier this week, Bangor Savings Bank announced plans to form a mutual holding company. The move will allow the bank to expand and possibly acquire other mutual banks.

“It triples or quadruples our acquisition capacity,” said Breen, who said there are no specific plans at this point to acquire other banks. “It’s just a step … there aren’t any specific opportunities on the horizon.”