Safe deposit boxes

[Bamaman]

I'm glad that my credit union has safety deposit boxes. We started using one after our recent burglary where our 400 pound gun safe was broken into and an $8500 diamond ring and 73 pieces of silver flatware--among other things was taken.

[ExFlyBoy5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bamaman I'm glad that my credit union has safety deposit boxes. We started using one after our recent burglary where our 400 pound gun safe was broken into and an $8500 diamond ring and 73 pieces of silver flatware--among other things was taken.

Oh wow..that is terrible! Can you elaborate a little bit on this? I assume no alarm on the house. I am curious as to how they broke into the safe.

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by atmsmshr My parents have always had a safety deposit box - DS and I are on the signature / identify card and know where the key is located in the house. OTH - DW and I have used a fire resistant box for important papers and have insured some jewelry. Currently contemplating on installing a small house safe. Any recommendations?

We started with the fire-resistant lock box when we were young and didn't have much to steal anyway, then I found a small (mini-fridge-sized) safe on sale, and since the safe isn't as fire-resistant as the lock box, I put the papers in the lock box and the lock box in the safe. And a lock box key on the floor of the safe, because they're not that hard to open anyway.

And joewras and Cobra9777 are correct, small safes are easily stolen, and should be bolted to studs, or bolted or epoxied to cinderblock/concrete. (Obviously, the epoxy is better if you are not planning on moving for quite a few years. For decades of extra security, it's worth some repair work when you're finally ready to sell....unless you want to convey the safe with the house!)

[Red Badger]

https://www.flynnlaw.com/Articles-Pu...it-Boxes.shtml

Safe deposit boxes can be the wrong solution for many common uses. This was just a random article. This thread was a memory jogger about advice from our attorney when we prepared our wills some years ago.

[Lsbcal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gwraigty +1 Ours is fire proof and file folder size.

Many people found out how un-fire proof their safes were in the California fires. I talked to one guy who lost all his papers including the totally destroyed house.

[JoeWras]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lsbcal Many people found out how un-fire proof their safes were in the California fires. I talked to one guy who lost all his papers including the totally destroyed house.

There's fire, and there's total destruction wildfire.

[The Cosmic Avenger]

I don't think there is such a thing as a fire proof home safe. I think there are safes that are fire-resistant for a certain temperature for a certain number of hours. If left in a hot enough fire for a long enough time, the interior of any safe would get hot enough to ignite papers. Although a house fire probably doesn't get up to forge-like temperatures, or if there were some strange situation where it did, it probably wouldn't be able to sustain those temperatures, so there are probably safes that are almost certain to protect papers during a house fire, I would think those would be very large and expensive, as house fires can get very hot.

[Scuba]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Just_Steve How is the bank supposed to compensate someone for the unknown contents of the box? Are they going by the honor system? Because if they are I had $25 million in my box.

[emoji23]

[geezee1957]

Here is my "safety deposit box" story. Years ago I rented a deposit box at a small bank. I set it up to automatically debit my checking account for the yearly fee. I placed a 100 oz bar of silver into the box and left with two keys. (one for me and one for my wife) Several years passed and I had nothing else added and didn't go back to open it. My job changed and we were leaving town, so I took the keys and went to the bank. I went back to the vault with one of the female tellers to open the box. We both noticed at the same time that the lock for my box had been drilled out. Then the bank president grilled me as to where I had gotten the key.(funny now but not then) After further discussion here is what happened: The gentleman who had rented the box and later turned it back to the bank had passed away. Between the time he no longer rented it and his death, I rented the box. Unfortunately the bank neglected to change their records. The gentleman's son came to the bank and of course was informed that his father had a deposit box. Yep there went my bar of silver. The bank did keep a record of the contents when drilled so they replaced my silver. That does happen to be the last safety deposit box I have rented.

[yakers]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Cosmic Avenger If left in a hot enough fire for a long enough time, the interior of any safe would get hot enough to ignite papers. .

Farenheight 451?

[Montecfo]

I have never felt a need for a safe deposit box. I have a fire file with important papers in it. But even those are not irreplaceable. So a fire file seems the right tool for me.

[Cat-tirement]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERD50 I'd be tempted to get a safe to use as a decoy. The bad guys find it, think they hit the jack pot, and run. It would have a surprise waiting for them. A stink bomb, dye spray? Maybe include this video on a flash drive marked "PASSWORDS", or maybe use a corrupted flash drive that had nothing of value on it, and let them try to recover the data? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoxhDk-hwuo -ERD50

I like it!
Wonder if I could find an old safe cheap at a thrift store. Don’t know if I’d go through the trouble of creating the booby traps, but fun to think about.

[audreyh1]

We keep our safe deposit box as “off-site storage”. It contains backup drives and papers. We store more there when we travel.

We have a small fire safe at home that we use to store some things, but if found someone could easily walk off with it. When we travel, sensitive stuff goes to the bank.

[PatrickA5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mountainsoft I always have to laugh when I need to get in my safe deposit box at the bank. They take my royal key and the key of the kingdom to open the forbidden door and remove the sacred box. The servants place the box on a pedestal in the royal viewing alcove and retreat from the vault or turn their back to me as I open my secret treasure... HA! It's just a bunch of old photo negatives, our passports, and my backup hard drives. There's absolutely nothing secret or valuable in there, it's just a safe secondary location other than our house. I try to tell that to the tellers, but they have their little protocol they do anyway, even though I say it will only take me two seconds to pull out the old backup drive and put in the new one. Oh well, it makes me feel important, if only for a minute.

HA! It's kind of funny, but I seem to get a feeling of being some kind social elite when I get into my box. Must be the old movies where the rich people pull out their millions in jewelry to go to the latest evening gala. The feeling dissipates quickly when I look in and see 12 sheets of paper valued at probably a penny. Oh well, at least it's a free box.

[mountainsoft]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lsbcal Many people found out how un-fire proof their safes were in the California fires. I talked to one guy who lost all his papers including the totally destroyed house.

Most small fire safes are just rated for a short period of time, like 30 minutes to an hour. They're only supposed to last long enough until the fire department can come put out the fire. The California wild fires lasted longer and were more intense than a typical house fire.

I do have a small file cabinet fire safe, with things like our wedding certificate, birth certificates, property deeds, etc. Whenever possible I try to scan those documents as well so I have a copy on my hard drive and on my backup drives. I always keep one of those backup drives in the safe deposit box at the bank.

[RunningBum]

I keep a backup thumb drive of my data files in my son's fire "proof" box in his house. Not that I distrust him at all but I keep it in a sealed envelope just so there's no question. It's got the advantage that if something happens to me, he's got access to my files, since he may not be able to access the safe deposit box or get into my laptop.

If I had access to a free safe deposit box I might use it, but I don't.

[braumeister]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Cosmic Avenger I don't think there is such a thing as a fire proof home safe. I think there are safes that are fire-resistant for a certain temperature for a certain number of hours. If left in a hot enough fire for a long enough time, the interior of any safe would get hot enough to ignite papers. Although a house fire probably doesn't get up to forge-like temperatures, or if there were some strange situation where it did, it probably wouldn't be able to sustain those temperatures, so there are probably safes that are almost certain to protect papers during a house fire, I would think those would be very large and expensive, as house fires can get very hot.

Exactly right.
You can usually see the fire resistance rating of a safe you're considering. Another factor would be water damage to your papers, since a safe in a basement might be almost floating after the fire department gets through dousing the flames.

For example, the (fairly cheap) one I use says

Quote:

UL Classified to protect your valuables in a fire for 1 hour in up to 1700 degrees F. ETL Verified water resistance to protect important contents in up to 8 inches of water for up to 24 hours

[brett]

Bottom line for us is that we do not need a home safe. Nor do we want to find out the hard way that our safe is not as safe in terms of heat, fire, and water as we presumed.

Happy to pay the bank fee and happy to have the items stored outside of our residence.

[samclem]

For those that want to go to the effort, building a good box of drywall around a safe can make it very fire resistant. Drywall (aka "gypsum board") contains a lot of water that is bound inside it. When it gets hot, this water boils off. The material cannot exceed about 212 deg F until the water is totally boiled off, and this takes time even in a very hot fire (which is why fire-rated walls in homes quite frequently feature a thick layer of drywall).

Two layers of 1/2" thick gypsum board, with staggered seams and some corners of steel angle to hold it all together in the heat would work very well. It would require a well fitting door or front panel, obviously. As a bonus, when done it could be made to look like part of the house, so less likely to attract the interest of a thief.

[mickeyd]

Me "Where are those 500 Bitcoins that were in my safe deposit box?"


Mr. Banker "Damned if I know." "No laws."


Me "No laws? What do you mean, no laws?"