There where agreements in place to ensure reasonable costs. This made it cheap to use. And it was so popular it surely did make a profit.

Then the big banks realized they where helping the smaller banks and even more profit could be made by themselves. Hence a lot of lobbying for a "liberal" market.

We still have the card. But slightly more expensive. Not sure for how long. I do not look forward to a future with global players setting the rules on "market" terms.