Consumer group Which? exposed yesterday that staff in banks and building societies were providing customers with “inexcusably” bad information over protection of their money if the provider were to go bust.

Researchers for Which? posed as new customers to ask 13 banks and building societies for basic information about the financial services compensation scheme (FSCS).

Under the scheme, up to £85,000 of someone’s savings is protected if their provider goes under.

Researchers told the providers they had £100,000 to deposit into an account. But out of the 156 anonymous calls made to the banks not one member of staff gave an unprompted warning that £15,000 of their money was at risk.

The 13 providers contacted were HSBC, Lloyds Bank, Nationwide Building Society, Barclays, Santander, the Co-operative Bank, First Direct, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), NatWest, Bank of Scotland, Halifax, Britannia Building Society and Yorkshire Building Society.

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: “It is inexcusable that bank staff can’t give customers basic information about the compensation scheme if their bank goes bust.

“In the event of a collapse, this bad advice could cost people many thousands of pounds from their life savings. We hope this is a wake-up call to the banks that they need to improve staff training.”

The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) said it was disappointed at the findings.

The FSCS recently set up an online tool to help people check that their money is protected and allows them to enter the names of their banks, building societies and credit unions. The checker can be found at www.fscs.org.uk/protected