Britain's cash-strapped small businesses are being failed by the very banks that are being propped up by the taxpayers' billions, MPs have argued.
High loan charges and hefty arrangement fees face many local firms desperately in need of credit, while some are denied loans altogether.
"We deplore the behaviour of a number of those banks who have received so much public money and behaved in such an insensitive manner particularly to established customers," the Treasury
Select Committee's latest report said.
It added there was an "unresolved inconsistency" between the assurances of bank bosses and complaints on the ground from struggling businesses over a lack of lending.
The select committee report calls for a probe into such practices and more detailed lending figures from the banks which have received state support.
Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group have made lending commitments of £25bn and £14bn over the next 12 months in return for insuring hundreds of billions in toxic assets with the taxpayer.
The MPs welcomed the Government's move to impose conditions on banks in return for public support but added there were "conflicting pressures" between boosting their finances and lending more.
An RBS spokeswoman responded to the report by saying the bank was "very much open for business".
She said lending to small businesses was up 10% compared to last year and that the bank recently announced a commitment to make £16bn of additional lending available to viable businesses this year, including £3bn through 12 regionally-managed funds of £250m.
MPs also attacked bankers for making "an astonishing mess" of the financial system.
"The culture within parts of British banking has increasingly been one of risk taking leading to the meltdown that we have witnessed," the report said.
Committee chairman John McFall said the UK had experienced "a comprehensive failure of the banking system at all levels".
He attacked the inability of banks to govern themselves and manage risks, with inadequate scrutiny from non-executive directors.
He added: "Governments, politicians, regulators and central bankers in the UK and across the world also share a responsibility for sustaining the illusion that banking growth and profitability would continue for the foreseeable future."
The report called for a "more durable framework" for finance from the Financial Services Authority, while the separation of riskier "casino" banking from retail deposit-taking was also worthy of "further debate".
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