The safe-deposit box era is ending

[rembrandt]

Safe-deposit boxes, popular among affluent, older customers — and the writers of heist movies — are being closed or scaled back heavily, The Wall Street Journal reports. Banks say the boxes, used to store valuables and heirlooms, are outdated with alternatives available like home safes. JPMorgan Chase and Capital One have already ended the service, while Wells Fargo is offering fewer boxes as branches shut their doors. The number of safe-deposit boxes has declined by an estimated 20% from six years ago. As banks exit the market, independent companies are also looking to expand secure storage options.

 

[foxcreek9]

We have a small local bank that still offers SDBs. I store a portable hard-drive as my offsite backup of our computers. Much cheaper than the online alternative. I swap it about every 2-3 months.

 

[big-papa]

I don't see my credit union ever walking away from this - I'll just add this to the host of reasons I'll never use a bank again, especially a large, name brand bank...

Cheers.

 

[Surewhitey]

Shut down ours a couple of years ago. Just didn’t make sense for a few items that we can put in the fire safe box at home. Plus we were shutting down the bank account for simplicity.

 

[tulak]

I still have mine. I keep thinking I should get rid of it, but it’s convenient for paperwork/backups that I want to protect. I’m more worried about theft than fire. If I had a place to permanently install a safe, then I’d be inclined to get rid of the safety deposit box.

I had a friend who had a safe that was stolen from their house. The contents would be useless to the thieves, since it was personal stuff of value only to them and was unfortunately lost forever.

 

[big-papa]

I still have mine. I keep thinking I should get rid of it, but it’s convenient for paperwork/backups that I want to protect. I’m more worried about theft than fire. If I had a place to permanently install a safe, then I’d be inclined to get rid of the safety deposit box.

I had a friend who had a safe that was stolen from their house. The contents would be useless to the thieves, since it was personal stuff of value only to them and was unfortunately lost forever.

Yep, that's a fear as well. One thing our attorney suggested for us when we recently went through our latest updates for estate planning was to keep the document originals at home and only keep copies in the safety deposit box. And make sure that those who need to know, know where to find them in your house. Having to get a court order, etc. to get access to a safety deposit box can be time consuming.

So our originals are kept in a fireproof box at home with a note in several languages on top that these are only estate documents - there are no account numbers, passwords or valuables stored here. It's locked but I keep the key in it. Also all of the docs are in ziplock bags. Fireproof doesn't mean waterproof. I've also read that it's a good idea to do this with stuff stored in safety deposit boxes.

Cheers.

 

[Koolau]

My bank and my CU have boxes. At one time Honolulu had one of the only "private" safety deposit box companies but they went out of business. It was not associated with any bank or financial institution. I would have thought it would have been popular for "privacy" reasons, but I suppose no one really believes in privacy any more

 

[audreyh1]

I really want off site storage.

 

[rembrandt]

I never understood home safes. What can't the thieves steal the safe and try to crack it when they get it home?

 

[street]

Yep, that's a fear as well. One thing our attorney suggested for us when we recently went through our latest updates for estate planning was to keep the document originals at home and only keep copies in the safety deposit box. And make sure that those who need to know, know where to find them in your house. Having to get a court order, etc. to get access to a safety deposit box can be time consuming.

So our originals are kept in a fireproof box at home with a note in several languages on top that these are only estate documents - there are no account numbers, passwords or valuables stored here. It's locked but I keep the key in it. Also all of the docs are in ziplock bags. Fireproof doesn't mean waterproof. I've also read that it's a good idea to do this with stuff stored in safety deposit boxes.

Cheers.

You can have as many names as you want registered to get into the box as you want.

 

[street]

I really want off site storage.

I do too.

 

[MarieIG]

I still have mine and prefer that to a home safe.

 

[Koolau]

I have a fire proof safe that I keep documents in at home. I used a Sharpie to write the combo on the front of it. Any self respecting thief will open it and see that there are no valuables. I hope they close it back up before they leave.

 

[big-papa]

You can have as many names as you want registered to get into the box as you want.

I know and I've done that. The "as many names" are a very limited number of people, many of whom live nowhere near me. I'll take my attorney's advice.

 

[foxcreek9]

I never understood home safes. What can't the thieves steal the safe and try to crack it when they get it home?

We have 2 at home, one is bolted into the studs and the other is hidden in the Christmas decorations in the basement.

 

[Koolau]

Many home safes are pretty unwieldy to remove - with or without bolting. Most thieves want to get in and get out. Stealing a safe that weighs 100 pounds or more would be a real chore. Not impossible - but valuables for most thieves are abundant and are just lying around in most homes. If it's enough to score drugs with, they're happy in most cases. YMMV

 

[Car-Guy]

I had one but found it was far to small and inconvenient for my needs.

So I got one of these: 6' tall, 1200 lbs empty, fire resistant and it's bolted to the slab + a few other controls that I won't mention. Not perfect but works for me.

 

[RxMan]

I’ve had a small safety deposit box for a few years now. I keep some of my precious metals in it. My wife recently said that we should keep important papers in it since we don’t have a fire proof safe. I’m more inclined to get a safe than leave original important documents in a safety deposit box at the bank.

We may be looking for a new home in the next year. We’ll definitely consider getting a safe at the new house. I don’t have enough valuables to worry too much about it but I am concerned about important paperwork.

 

[frank05]

I now store all docs including my master password in the cloud and have setup a digital legacy with Google that will allow access by my estate contacts to my drive after 2 months of inactivity. I have a further backup in a fire safe.

 

[Music Lover]

I never understood home safes. What can't the thieves steal the safe and try to crack it when they get it home?

Mine is bolted to the floor. I suppose that someone could steal it if they were willing to cut the floor apart. They'd also have to cut through 2 interior walls or cut through the floor from the basement as it's located in the corner of a closet.

 

[rembrandt]

I had one but found it was far to small and inconvenient for my needs.

So I got one of these: 6' tall, 1200 lbs empty, fire resistant and it's bolted to the slab + a few other controls that I won't mention. Not perfect but works for me.

View attachment 53025

How did you get it home?

 

[Car-Guy]

How did you get it home?

A safe company delivered it using a heavy duty hydraulic dolly. One man can deliver a 1200lb safe "up stairs" using such a dolly. Impressive but I wanted mine bolted to a slab downstairs.

 

[aja8888]

After my wife died, I closed out our safe deposit box at the bank and realized that not much in it needed to be there in the first place.

My home has two safes, one for documents/small stuff, and there are only a couple of items in there (car title, loan payoff letter, some unused credit cards, my birth certificate and some extra AMMUNITION (not a document)), My other safe is a small gun safe and that is bolted to my nightstand with fingerprint control for quick access. That contains my "secondary security system" (after the wired/cellular alarm system and my dog). This is Texas, and people have firearms, lots of them!

I can't really think of much else to put in a safe these days as I have no gold or silver bullion or rare coins, don't keep much cash around, have no valuable jewelry, and my Will and POA is with my daughter and filed with appropriate facilities. My daughter also has my End of Life book with all the instructions and investment information.

I keep a few paper copies of old tax returns, my closed Sub S corporation files, and a few other files in my desk file drawer and I purge some files at the end of each year. I also have a flash drive containing federal income tax files that go back a few years (in pdf format).

Trying to simplify to make life easier for me and my daughter who will have to pick up after I am gone.

 

[rembrandt]

A safe company delivered it using a heavy duty hydraulic dolly. One man can deliver a 1200lb safe "up stairs" using such a dolly. Impressive but I wanted mine bolted to a slab downstairs.

Good idea. If they brought it upstairs, it would probably fall thru the floor!

 

[street]

For me having one at the bank is that I have all important documents in one safe place. I have a vault at home also but it gets more stuff in there that needs to be.

Boxes work for some and for some not so much. That what is what makes the world go around.