One Big Change Coming To ATMs In 2016

Digging through your purse or wallet and searching for your debit card at the ATM as a line of impatient people tap their feet behind you can induce a fit of anxiety. Even worse is when you lose your debit card and have no way to take out cash, forcing you to avoid your favorite cash-only restaurants until your new card arrives. Thanks to JPMorgan Chase's new upgrades, you won't need a debit card at Chase ATMs very soon, eliminating some of your worst banking struggles.

Chase will upgrade all of its ATMs this year, and the new machines — called eATMs — will allow you to withdraw cash using only your cell phone. By opening up the Chase app on your smartphone and punching a one-time code into the ATM, you'll be able to access your money sans card. The bank already has plans for future updates as well that will streamline the process further — utilizing cell phones' near-field wireless communication feature, so customers can withdraw money without an access code. Similar to the way Apple Pay works, ATM users will be able to simply hold their phone up the machine to get cash on the spot.

"This is not replacing debit cards, just giving customers another convenient option if they do not have their debit card with them," JPMorgan spokesman Michael Fusco said in a statement sent to USA Today, explaining that bank-goers will still be able to use their cards.

The eATMS are currently undergoing a trial in more than 150 New York City branches, and their success encouraged the national upgrade. No official completion date was set, but the ATMs will be replaced throughout the year.

Along with the new phone feature, Chase's new and improved machines will allow daily withdraws up to $3,000 at ATMs located in bank branches and during branch hours, triple the current $1,000 limit in New York City and six times the $500 maximum in many areas. You will also be able to cash checks and take out custom amounts of money, no longer limited to intervals of 20. So, if you know you need exactly $14 for the pizza you plan to pick up for dinner, you can withdraw the exact amount. (Any technology that makes getting pizza easier is a welcome change.) By 2017, Chase customers will even have the ability to make their credit card and mortgage payments at the eATMs.

Fusco told NBC News that Chase now does more transactions via ATMs than bank tellers, and the eATMs will make tellers even less necessary. While tellers won't cease to exist all together, they will likely decrease in number.

Life without a debit card will be so much simpler with the updated machines — as long as you don't lose your phone.