After the saga of Northern Rock, it is not surprising that a few of us have lost confidence in our banks.

Now, nearly 1 in 7 of us need convincing their bank won't go bust as the credit crunch continues to roll ever onward.

As more and more British banks write off humungous sums of money related to the American sub-prime mortgage fallout (HSBC have just written off £2.55 billion), many of us are weighing up our banks' abilities to weather the credit turmoil.

• Who are Britain's most worried bank customers?

According to a banks customer confidence poll by money website Fool.co.uk, 1 in 7 of us are not entirely convinced that our bank won't go under (although we're sure the Government will probably bail them out anyway!)

However, fear of the unknown can play unwelcome tricks on our better judgment. For instance, 27% of us who have a mortgage or loan with Abbey (which also owns Cahoot) expresses concern. This is a bit weird, especially when you consider Abbey is part of Banco Santander; the third biggest bank in Europe.

Meanwhile 37% of you who have Alliance & Leicester as your bank of choice are anxious it might not get through the credit crisis too.

And the gang of you with the banking giant that is HBOS (owners of Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Intelligent Finance) also worry about its abilities to get through the credit crunch; over 20% of you are worried it may not survive.

• Who are Britain's least worried bank customers?

Of the "Big 5" banks, those of you with a loan or mortgage with the Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Barclays are feeling the least anxious; only around 10% of you with these banks are having sleepless nights about them.

In addition only 14% of you with Lloyds TSB are breaking into a sweat about what the future holds for the Black Horse.

• Oh to be young and carefree

If you a bank customer between 18 and 25 then you are among the most laid back of customers; only 10% of you are anxious about your bank. This contrasts with half as many more people (16%) over the age of 50 who are frightened their banks won't survive the future.

David Kuo, Head of Personal Finance at Fool.co.uk, says:

"Banks can play a huge part in calming customers and avert a run on another British bank. We therefore urge them to come clean over the size of bail-out that they accept from the Bank of England's special liquidity scheme.

"Under the scheme, the Central Bank will pump over £50 billion of taxpayers' money into the credit market in exchange for mortgage debt. But it is vital that banks remember it is taxpayers' money they are accepting.

"They need to bear in mind that their solvency depends on their perceived solvency. In other words, any bank can encounter problems if enough customers believe it may be in trouble, as seen with Northern Rock. It isn't what people say that's damaging, but what they whisper."

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