Safe deposit boxes

[MrsHaloFIRE]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/business/safe-deposit-box-theft.html
"There are an estimated 25 million safe deposit boxes in America, and they operate in a legal gray zone within the highly regulated banking industry. There are no federal laws governing the boxes; no rules require banks to compensate customers if their property is stolen or destroyed."

Apparently banks are on the hook for very little if contents disappear to bank's negligence. Im surprised by this. Did y'all know this? Disclaimer: I don't have one

 

[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.

 

[mystang52]

I love having a safe deposit box. Any important papers I can put there and not worry where they are. Many years ago I sold my car, and only then realized I could not find the title. It took a lot of hoops to jump through before I got a replacement title. That was when I got a safe deposit box. I don't keep valuables there, just papers.

 

[Kwirk]

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.

In at least some states they are required to inventory the contents of the box when opening it.

 

[njhowie]

Many years ago I sold my car, and only then realized I could not find the title. It took a lot of hoops to jump through before I got a replacement title.

Two years ago we bought a replacement car for DW and gave the dealer her old car as part of the contract. That night we searched the house but couldn't find the title. Went to local DMV office first thing the next morning, paid the fee, was in and out in 10 minutes with new title. Easy peasy.

 

[brett]

Perhaps some people do not want the bank knowing what is in the safety deposit box nor might they not want an inventory on record with a third party.

The bank is hardly going to agree to be liable for an undetermined amount on a $30. annual safety deposit box rental. Nor should they.

 

[rk911]

we’ve had a safety deposit box for nearly 50-yrs in every bank we’ve ever done biz with...8-10 in all. contents ranged from papers to items of sentimental value only to items of actual value. we’ve never lost anything or had an issue.

a few months back when i asked about the availability of a larger box i was told that many banks are abandoning the 2-key vault SD boxes and going to 1-key SD boxes in their lobbies. no privacy. anyone experiencing this?

 

[mountainsoft]

Perhaps some people do not want the bank knowing what is in the safety deposit box

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.

 

[atmsmshr]

House safe instead of bank?

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?

 

[JoeWras]

Currently contemplating on installing a small house safe.

Any recommendations?

My only recommendation is that you make sure said safe is securely attached to the structure, where ever you put it.

We had a local police talk a few years back, and the cop endorsed the idea of a safe as long as it was attached. This is because most robberies around here are smash, grab, and run. But, he said a lot of the small safes get carried away, safe and all. So, attach it. Remember, "small" may mean a 100lbs for a strong, young crook. Basically, a safe up to the size of a dorm fridge is easily carried off by a smash and grabber.

One of the simpler ways this is done for cheaper safes is to drill from the inside and secure to wall or floor with bolts of some sort. I used 3" lag bolts for this purpose, hitting structural timbers. There are other more secure methods. For our papers, good enough.

I recently moved it and found that the wet putty fire retardant that I drilled through dried out. So, I may not have much of a fire safe anymore.

Short story:

• Securely attach your safe
• Investigate best methods to do this

 

[MI-Roger]

I don't understand the "No Federal Laws" portion of the original posting. Isn't it against the law to store cash in a Safety Deposit Box? If so, that must be a Federal Reg.

 

[MichaelB]

I don't understand the "No Federal Laws" portion of the original posting. Isn't it against the law to store cash in a Safety Deposit Box? If so, that must be a Federal Reg.

No federal law or regulation against having cash or storing it in a safe deposit box at a bank.

 

[Aerides]

from the google machine:

"it suggests that you are trying to hide money from the IRS, and that can lead to serious legal problems down the line. While it's true that keeping cash in a safe deposit box is not illegal, many banks have adopted policies that forbid the practice outright."

 

[GreenEggs]

I don't understand the "No Federal Laws" portion of the original posting. Isn't it against the law to store cash in a Safety Deposit Box? If so, that must be a Federal Reg.

Against the law to put cash in a safe deposit box?! That's crazy.

I guess that would make me a criminal.

 

[MichaelB]

from the google machine:

"it suggests that you are trying to hide money from the IRS, and that can lead to serious legal problems down the line. While it's true that keeping cash in a safe deposit box is not illegal, many banks have adopted policies that forbid the practice outright."

Reminds me of Washington Mutual. I opened an account with them only to find they did not provide any type of notary services and wouldn’t take a 3rd party check that had been signed over to me. They did have safe deposits boxes, but the agreement said no cash, no coins, limited collectibles. I asked the branch manager why they even bothered to offer the boxes with that restriction, and her response was she really didn’t want that business, it brought nothing to the bank but a bunch of old people.

As I looked for another bank they went under and were absorbed by Wachovia.

 

[gwraigty]

OTH - DW and I have used a fire resistant box for important papers

+1

Ours is fire proof and file folder size.

 

[brett]

We use ours frequently. We keep a backup disk of our photos in the box. We put any valuable jewelry in the box prior to a trip. And of course the usual papers. Some coins that have value and a few bank notes.

 

[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?

-ERD50

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

We had one for a number of years, but nothing of monetary value really stored there (old pictures/documents/etc). Now, we have a F-5 rated tornado shelter installed and keep a couple of fire boxes in it. Is it 100% safe in there? Probably not...but it's about as safe as you can get in your own home, plus if the apocalypse heads our way, the stuff that is most important to us is already in the shelter.

 

[Cobra9777]

We have a fire-proof box that locks and is bolted to the floor using a concrete anchor bolt in the slab. It's in the back corner of a spare closet concealed by clothes and other stuff. We keep a few valuables in it but mostly just passports, car titles, and other important papers. There's also a flashdrive containing wills and related documents along with some financial/tax files. All other PC files are backed up locally and in the cloud for offsite backup.

 

[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]

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]

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-Publications/Safe-Deposit-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]

+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.