Safe deposit boxes

[JoeWras]

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]

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]

My deposit box story

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]

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]

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

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]

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]

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]

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

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?"

 

[MI-Roger]

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

I guess that would make me a criminal.

Hypothetically speaking:

• You keep $10K in your Safety Deposit Box for emergency cash.
• You find some collectible object you desire, car or furniture or artwork, for sale at a fair price of $5K.
• You decide to use you Emergency Cash for this purchase.
• Where do you go to get the cash?

To the Bank! Assuming they are open on the day you need the funds.

You would have been better served to have the money in some sort of income earning, immediate access investment, rather than a Safety Deposit Box where it just sits.

 

[athena53]

I have a lot of jewelry, accumulated over 40+ years. I love the real stuff. This isn't optimal but I have a small fire-resistant safe hidden in a closet that most people wouldn't notice. Even better, inside there's a blind corner so if you open the door and look inside it all you see is some miscellaneous junk when the safe is hidden around the corner. (And yes, my DS knows where it is in case I suddenly leave this earth.)

Every few weeks I "rotate" jewelry- put back the rings, bracelets, necklaces and earrings I've been wearing and take out others. I figure that if someone breaks in they'll see what's on the dresser in the master bedroom and take it and leave. I just can't see putting it all in a safe deposit box- I'm unlikely to take it out and enjoy it.

 

[rk911]

Hypothetically speaking:

• You keep $10K in your Safety Deposit Box for emergency cash.
• You find some collectible object you desire, car or furniture or artwork, for sale at a fair price of $5K.
• You decide to use you Emergency Cash for this purchase.
• Where do you go to get the cash?

To the Bank! Assuming they are open on the day you need the funds.

You would have been better served to have the money in some sort of income earning, immediate access investment, rather than a Safety Deposit Box where it just sits.

no, i write a check (the last 5-vehicles we bought were purchased with a personal check) or use a credit card. then i would take the $5k out of the box and deposit it in the bank account. but in reality the cash in the SD box is for emergencies. a new car or collectible art is not an emergency.

 

[Rianne]

I bonds in our bank box. I assume they are useless to a robber.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

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.

Wow...talk about a cautionary tale!

 

[TheRunningMan]

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

Crime stats indicate that burglars target the master bedroom and closet. So I have a fire resistant file safe in my closet, with a 30lb granite block in it. I think it makes for a very nice bait safe.

 

[Jeb-NY]

Good firebox in a fireproof gun safe that probably weighs over 1000lbs with content, bolted to wall/floor in basement. Might not handle the heat of those California fire but would probably handle a normal house fire. Had a safety deposit box many years ago, very inconvenient for many things we might want to store in it and not needed for valuables.

 

[Smitty700]

Here’s an interesting story from The NY Times. A collector put about $10M worth of collectible watches and coins. Wells Fargo incorrectly opened the his box for an unpaid box for another customer and inventoried the contents. The collector opened his box in 2014 to discover it was empty. The suit is still being litigated.

The story can be found at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/business/safe-deposit-box-theft.html.

 

[scaubie]

We’ve had a SDB for over 30 years so I suppose we’ve paid $1,000 or so during that time. Car titles, wills, other important documents. Maybe we should have purchased a home vault for a couple hundred dollars...?

 

[RunningBum]

We’ve had a SDB for over 30 years so I suppose we’ve paid $1,000 or so during that time. Car titles, wills, other important documents. Maybe we should have purchased a home vault for a couple hundred dollars...?

Read up about wills in safe deposit boxes. The box may be difficult for others to access when you die, so this will complicate and delay settlement of your estate.