About 8,000 ATMs in 7-Eleven stores across the country will stay in the CO-OP Financial Services ATM network thanks to a new agreement between CO-OP and ATM network and service provider Financial Consulting & Trading International, or FCTI.
The agreement marks the start of a new chapter in the relationship between 7-Eleven and its ATMs. Back in July of 2015, the chain of convenience stores announced it would no longer host Cardtronics-deployed ATMs past July 2017 and was switching to FCTI.
At the time, that change would have affected ATMs in about 18% of 7-Eleven stores nationwide. Cardtronics, which is based in Houston, Texas, owns the Allpoint surcharge-free ATM network and partnered with large payment CUSOs such as CO-OP Financial Services.
The new multi-year agreement announced Thursday between CO-OP and FCTI, which are both based in California, keeps the CO-OP ATM network alive in 7-Eleven stores.
“This agreement continues to enable millions of surcharge-free transactions for members of participating credit unions every year, so members can conveniently avoid being charged,” said CO-OP Financial Services President and CEO Todd Clark.
“We look forward to working with FCTI, especially during the transition period, to make sure the switch to FCTI machines is done without access interruption to members,” Clark added.
The partnership will also bring another 5,000 ATMs that are owned and operated by FCTI into the fold, according to the announcement.
“CO-OP ATM is the key to convenient, surcharge-free access to accounts for credit union members, and we are delighted that this service will continue at 7-Eleven stores through FCTI machines,” FCTI Co-CEO Jeffrey Wernecke said. “The enhanced security features of our machines will be a particular benefit to credit union members, in this era of heightened concern over identify theft and other forms of fraud.”
FCTI is owned by the same company that owns 7-Eleven. Their parent is Seven & I Holdings, which is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, and consists of 147 operating companies, according to its 2016-2017 corporate profile. It purchased 7-Eleven, Inc. in 2005 for about $1 billion.
CO-OP Financial Services works with 3,500 credit unions and 60 million members. It has a fleet of 30,000 ATMs, making it the largest credit union-only ATM network in the United States, according to the CUSO.
7-Eleven operates, franchises and licenses at roughly 10,500 stores in North America and more than 56,600 in 18 countries. It claims it has more outlets than any other retailer or food service provider.
