To securely hold the money of others. - xero

Meh, I have a safe at home. That's not even a good reason. If they don't lend, how do I collect interest on them holding my money? What can they do for me that I can't do myself? - Rahsheen ™

They do provide a system for moving money from one place to another. - Brian Sullivan

Your interest is only their because your money makes them money. They could just charge everyone to use their vaults and their security instead of letting most of it be free. Most home safes are about as secure as your mattress. Watch this, has a simplified history of banking in it: http://video.google.com/videopl... - xero

er, according the video, xero: if they don't *lend* money, they can't *make* money. and therefore can't pay interest. really, the only benefit over the mattress or safe is that banks are FDIC-insured. - tiffany

That's exactly my point, tiffany. In relation to the economic situation at hand. Banks are obviously not lending to unstable individuals. It's also being said they won't lend to unstable companies. So, who will they lend to? If they aren't lending money, they are useless. - Rahsheen ™

They can make money by charging fees to hold your money, but it won't be anywhere near as much as if they were lending money. (They can also make an obscenely huge profit due to the fractional reserve system.) Remove lending money and banks do still serve a purpose, their profits margins just become much smaller as they become a security company instead of a banking company. - xero

To take ours. - orionstarr

So, basically, they become useless, which tells me they will lend a bankrupt auto-industry money all day long. Why? Because, in these times, a bankrupt auto-industry is about as good as their going to get. - Rahsheen ™

American cars suck. It's no wonder. - orionstarr

In other words, bailing out the banking industry and bailing out the auto industry means taxpayers may as well be burning their money. - Victor Ganata

To give me dollar bills to enter into Where's George. - Morton Fox

I don't think I need a conventional bank to not pay cash. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I can always get a prepaid visa/mastercard. I barely count Paypal as an actual bank. I don't know the details of why it's different, but I just get the feeling it is - Rahsheen ™