Lucy McTernan: Whatever happened to pledge to act more responsibly?

From irresponsible lending to the credit crunch, we have found many banks have been inclined to pursue policies that are not only damaging to many individual customers but to the economy as a whole. And it's those struggling on the lowest incomes who suffer the most.

Indeed, the whole culture of our banking system seems to be based on a reverse Robin Hood effect, with disproportionate charges effectively fleecing the poor to help provide enhanced services for the better-off.

If you are living on benefits or minimum wage, for example, that hefty fee you incur for going a few pence over your overdraft limit is going to hit you much harder than it will a millionaire. Many clients have told us their bank's first response to them going over their limit was to offer them a further loan.

Others say they have been pursued ruthlessly over small debts, with repeated phone calls at work and late into the night. This is despite the fact many such "transgressions" are not the fault of the customer but of their employer or the benefits system or even - in more than a few cases - the bank itself.

So there are plenty of things for people to complain to their bank about. And to find that such complaints are not even being handled properly adds insult to injury.

Banks should be helping people to manage their money properly. Instead, it seems most of them are making things worse - particularly for those most in need.

Of course, some people will say business is business, and banks are there to make money: they don't owe us a living, do they? Well, it's just over two years since they were bailed out by the taxpayer. They promised to repay that by acting more responsibly. The jury is in: they have failed to make good on that promise. It's time they did so.

l Lucy McTernan is chief executive of Citizens Advice Scotland.