Believe it or not Mr Alan S. not all people who have overdrafts are reckless as you so blithely state. Generalisations display ignorance. I had a bank account for 20 years and never went overdrawn. Then, as fate would have it, I was made redundant 2 months after my second daughter was born. The lack of income tipped the balance. I arranged an overdraft but when an I had to have unexpected work done to the car I inadvertently (not recklessly) went over my overdraft. I got charged. The problem was that it then becomes a vicious circle on a limited income - you're trying to play catch-up and each month if you can't catch up you get more charges. I was lucky and got back in to work after 4 months but it took me a further 2 months to get on an even keel again but during those 6 months I got £300 worth of charges. All this at the same time that city whizz kids were taking home £million bonuses. You obviously don't know much about the real world Mr Alan S. And when the banks get in to trouble they have no qualms or conscience about taking our money to shore up their dubious systems. And no government dares stand up to the banks.