Experts have warned that a legal loophole is leaving bank customers who use self-service paying-in machines at risk.
The machines currently require customers to post cash using an envelope and do not issue receipts meaning there is no legal right to demand it back if the cash goes missing.
Hundreds of people a year are denied compensation by their bank after claiming they have lost money deposited in their account this way, says the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Barclays claims envelopes lost in this manner were not present when machines were opened at the end of the working day.
All six of Britain’s major High Street banking groups have such machines in thousands of branches and encourage customers to use them for convenience value. However, these machines, in contrast to the traditional cashier system, which produces a stamped receipt, customers are left with an acknowledgement slip, which they generate themselves.
Regarding Santander, Nationwide and HSBC, the slip is proof that a transaction took place but gave no mention as to how much was paid.
With Lloyds TSB, which also runs Halifax and Bank of Scotland, and RBS, who run NatWest, the situation was the same.
Barclay’s customers receive an acknowledgement slip, but these are proof of nothing. However, they do help to trace the envelope should it go astray.
Cash which is lost or stolen when staff members count it at the end of the day; the bank can deny it ever existed since there is no evidence of how much was paid in.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) say customers have little legal protection if their money goes missing and the acknowledgement slip is the only proof.
With the Independent Financial Ombudsman Service stating back in May this year that financial complaints reached an all time high in 2010, customer relations with banks look set to remain low.