Wells Fargo rolls out its new ATMs - Yunnan ATM Heater Co.,Ltd

Wells Fargo’s imprint is a touch away.

Wachovia Bank’s new owner has begun replacing the ATM s originally owned and operated by Wachovia.

Go through a drive-in at a local branch and you see a new touch screen with virtually the same commands as the Wachovia ATM s, except these machines are envelope-free.

The Wachovia ATM s dispensed envelopes for deposits. The new machines don’t. A message on the screen catches your eye. It says that Wells Fargo is changing the way it authorizes ATM and debit-card transactions.

Some might wonder if that means Wachovia’s new owner might start charging fees for ATM withdrawals and debit-card transactions. The message refers to changes Wachovia has made to its overdraft-protection policies, to ensure “we are in compliance with new federal regulations,” said Wells Fargo spokeswoman Kristy Marshall.

“Wells Fargo is introducing their WebATM machines to current Wachovia customers,” she said. “Wells Fargo began piloting envelope-free ATMs in 2002.

“These new machines are web-based and the older Wachovia machines are not, so they don’t support all of the features that Wells Fargo offers its customers,” Marshall said. “Some of these features include offering six different languages, bulk-check and cash deposits, the ability to purchase U.S. postage stamps, and having paper checks converted to digital images and then transmitted electronically.”

More features will be available to Hampton Roads customers once full conversion takes place sometime next year, Marshall said.

“With all of the features being web-based, it would have cost more money to upgrade the old Wachovia machines than to add new Wells Fargo machines,” Marshall said.

The company that Wells Fargo is purchasing the new ATMs from, Wincor-Nixdorf, is taking the old Wachovia machines and refurbishing them and using them in convenience stores, such as 7-Eleven, Marshall said.

“We are replacing roughly 620 or more in the mid-Atlantic region,” she said. “All of the current ATMs are being replaced, which also includes the cash-only ATMs. Cash- only ATMs will be replaced like for like, so they will not accept deposits.”

Wells Fargo needs to convert 436 ATM s and 294 stores in Virginia, according to the Wells Fargo-Wachovia blog at http:// blog.wellsfargo.com/wachovia.

Wells Fargo is expected to complete the transition of the stores and the ATM s in Virginia by 2011, the blog said.

Wells Fargo will include a merger newsletter along with customers’ July statement, the blog said.

For those who’ve gone paperless or prefer to see the news online, the newsletter will also be posted on the Merger Information Center at www.wellsfargo.com/wachovia, the blog said.

Versions will include newsletters for consumers and small businesses in English and Spanish, and for wealth management advice in English, according to the website.

Customers can also find links to newsletters on this blog, the website said.

Charlotte-based Wachovia was one of the casualties of the financial crisis in 2008. If not for bids from Citigroup and Wells Fargo, Wachovia might have gone into receivership.

Wells Fargo won with a $12.2 billion all-stock deal, edging out Citigroup’s offer of $2.2 billion for Wachovia’s banking operations, but not its securities brokerage and asset management businesses.

Citigroup also agreed to pay the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. $12 billion in exchange for a guarantee that the agency would absorb losses beyond a certain threshold. nib