Hear that sucking sound when getting money from another bank's ATM?

Listen, it's there - just below the beeping of touch screens. It's the sound of $2 fees drawing money from your account - and it's getting louder.

You probably know you pay a fee if you use another bank's ATM. But increasingly, your own bank will charge you, too, when you use another bank's ATM - for everything from withdrawals to balance inquiries to asking for more money than you have. And next month, one of South Carolina's largest banks will no longer waive the fees for certain preferred customers.

Why all the charges?

Those fees paid by bank customers - typically $2 per ATM transaction - added more than $4.3 billion to the banking industry's bottom line in 2005, according to Web site Bankrate.com's estimates. That is an increase from an estimated $3.9 billion spent on fees a year earlier.

In South Carolina, where Wachovia, Bank of America, BB&T and Carolina First Bank account for about half of the state's banking market, customers can feel the effects.

As an example, Bank of America, which has 16,700 cash machines worldwide, reported in 2004 that card fee income increased by 50 percent to $4.5 billion from the year before. And through the first nine months of 2005, the bank was on pace to surpass the 2004 total, reporting $4.2 billion in fee income.

While the bulk of this came from retailers paying a fee for offering the convenience, ATM fees increasingly are adding to banks' income.

But how?

Everything from withdrawals, balance inquiries, funds transfer or an aborted attempt to withdraw cash because of insufficient funds can levy a fee.

The out-of-network ATM charges customers a fee, typically $2. Then, the customers' bank or credit union - where their accounts are held - will charge a fee for going outside the network. Typically, this fee is also $2.

As a result, the $20 withdrawn from an out-of-network ATM just cost $24.

Also, while some banks allow preferred customers to access out-of-network ATMs, this leniency is starting to disappear.

Starting Feb. 7, Bank of America will no longer waive its non-Bank of America fees for Advantage, Advantage for Seniors and Money Manager Account customers. Other banks might follow the lead.

Fed up with fees? Some small community banks are using this frustration as a way to gain market share.

First Reliance Bank offers to pay the out-of-network ATM fees for customers who meet some requirements when opening accounts at its Lexington bank, said market president Richard McIntyre.

By McIntyre's thinking, it is cheaper to pay the fees imposed by other banks than spending money each month to operate a network of ATMs.

"Putting an ATM up is rather expensive," he said. "I can pay the foreign ATM charges for a lot of customers."

The strategy also offers McIntyre a way to attract new customers to First Reliance. In the future, though, he suspects this fee policy will change.

"The customer base is still small, so this is still cost effective," he said.

Meanwhile, those larger banks from which McIntyre is trying to lure some customers, point to the convenience of their vast ATM networks.

Wachovia - home to the most deposits in South Carolina - has 5,100 cash machines on the East Coast, said spokesman Scott Silvestri. In Richland and Lexington counties, Wachovia has 58 machines.

"There's quite a few of them," he said. "If you want to avoid those fees, you can."

David Bryant, a Columbia developer, limits his trips to an ATM to maybe once a week. He draws the cash he thinks he will need for the week and uses his credit card for most purchases.

"Using American Express, you're paying it off every month so you never pay any interest," he said.

Wayne Adams avoids using out-of-network ATMs when traveling.

Finding an ATM in town is easy, said Adams, the head of The Adams Group, a Columbia-based marketing company. But finding one of his bank's machines out of state is not so simple, he said.

So when on the road, Adams typically uses his credit cards or debit card to make purchases instead of cash.

"There are so few places that don't take them."