Security of safety deposit boxes in banks

Primrose

Can somebody tell me what would happen if you withdrew your savings from a bank in cash, put it in a safety deposit box at the bank (as a more secure place than under your mattress), and the bank effectively went bust. Could you still have access to your safety deposit box or would it and its contents effectively become the property of the bank's administrators? Do banks change for renting a safety deposit box?

Asheron

How about..... Buy yourself a Safety Deposit Box, and buy Gold and Silver coins,

LOL, don't worry about your money, it's safe, But the value of your money is not safe........ Inflation will steal your money.

Study History 1929, learn from them, don't make the same mistakes.

Reaper

My understanding (which I can't promise you is correct) is that the bank owns the physical box but has no rights of any sort to the contents. It would therefore be safe in the case of the bank going under.

Actually the question is acedemic as in practice the bank would be taken over or nationalised in which case it would be business as usual.

Yes the bank will charge you to operate a safety deposit box.

You should ask them about whether the contents are insured and if so whether you need to maintain some proof over what is inside it.

Personally I think sticking cash in a box is the wrong thing to do, but let's not go there.

gozomark

Asheron wrote: »

LOL, don't worry about your money, it's safe, But the value of your money is not safe........ Inflation will steal your money.

Study History 1929, learn from them, don't make the same mistakes.

I'm not sure what you mean by study history 1929 - there was deflation in the UK in 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, and no significant inflation until 1940. Other than war time, the 1970s and the odd year in the 1980s and 1990s, the UK hasn't had significant inflation for atleast 250 years.

Asheron

Yes you are right.

Right now it is unsafe to put your money anywhere Banks, Stocks, Bonds.

In 1929 Gold and Silver was the only safe place.

tradetime

Could you still have access to your safety deposit box or would it and its contents effectively become the property of the bank's administrators? Do banks change for renting a safety deposit box?

Yes, and yes The contents of the box are yours and cannot be seized by the liquidators. Not sure what the charge for a box is nowadays.

sh856531

> Could you still have access to your safety deposit box or would it and its contents effectively become the property of the bank's administrators?

As other people have said, the box contents don't belong to the bank therefore no-one else could have a claim against it - even if a bank did go bust.

The thing is though, the government has said that no depositors will lose any money even if a bank were to go under. The government will just keep pumping money into the system until the recession runs its course. The scarier scenario is the country going bust, but thats another story :-)

shaun_from_Africa

Not sure what the charge for a box is nowadays.

Natwest charge between £40 and £55 per year (depending on size of box).
I've got a shoebox size one in the vault of my local branch and that's £40.
It's not really a safety deposit box, setup, but just use of the main vault to store your valuables

They also charge £10 each time you want access to the box.

trenchwars

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Natwest charge between £40 and £55 per year (depending on size of box).
I've got a shoebox size one in the vault of my local branch and that's £40.
It's not really a safety deposit box, setup, but just use of the main vault to store your valuables

They also charge £10 each time you want access to the box.

Do they offer insurance on the contents or do you have to arrange that separately?

Blah99

trenchwars wrote: »

Do they offer insurance on the contents or do you have to arrange that separately?

Natwest don't offer insurance on the box. I have a box with Natwest but don't have insurance - my feeling is that my own choice of fireproof, heavy locked box held in a vault is pretty much as safe as it's going to get, so insurance would be excessive. I guess it depends on what you keep in it.

I don't have to pay the £10 access charge, I do pay the yearly maintenance charge though. I think you have to pre-arrange access to the box (ie: tell the branch in advance), although I just call my manager and arrange to have it left out whenever I want at it. You go into the branch, they bring out the box and give you a lockable private room for you to inspect the contents.

isofa

Asheron wrote: »

Yes you are right.
Right now it is unsafe to put your money anywhere Banks, Stocks, Bonds.
In 1929 Gold and Silver was the only safe place.

Is that right?! Perhaps we should rush to close the fixed rate 7+% accounts many of us were prudent enough to open in better times, all under the FSCS protection limit obviously :rolleyes:

There are plenty of shrewd people also making money on the stockmarket, just the majority are having a hard time, not all.

Each to their own, but I certainly don't agree with the statement, "it is unsafe to put your money anywhere".

However back to the OP, I certainly would advise against putting money in a safety deposit box!