You're forgetting about why banks started in the first place: most people don't want to keep their hard-earned stuffed in a sock under the mattress. I know I don't. I'd pay someone to keep my money safe. As it is, the trade-off is that they keep it safe on the condition that they can 'use it' in the meantime. So I don't see current accounts as some kind of rip-off. And there are added benefits - You get a cheque book, which is useful for paying large sums, which is free. Your VISA costs nothing if you pay it off. You can travel to virtually any country in the world, stick your card into a machine and get currency. You can bank online and get all sorts of stuff done - which is free. All sorts of things. The demand for credit, credit and more credit is as much to blame as the banks willingness to lend it. Almost everybody is to blame. Blaming 'the banks' is just a cop-out.