Keeping important paperwork safe

Mojisola

Following on from this thread - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3027480
what do people do with all their important paperwork?

We keep some things in a safe but have been thinking about all the other stuff that's lying around. We'd have to go to extreme lengths to protect from a serious house fire but what about a break-in? Would having bank and credit card statements and utility bills filed on a bookshelf leave us open to any problems? Do others have these things locked away?

LJM

i have a large tinned box that locks. it has different sections which i have labelled with things such as bank statements/birth certificates/tax credits and other letters it is also fire proof luckily enough not had to try it but i hope it is. i regulalry shred out of date bills statements etc so i keep it up to date so not crammed

alleycat`

safety deposit box at the local bank has the important bits for if there is a fire / major burglary.

costs £10 a quarter.

LJM

thats not a bad idea alleycat i do feel uncomfortable with so much paperwork at home

Tropez

I have a home office that remains locked when I'm not in there and is also alarmed at the windows in case of a break-in, or attempted break-in.

Anything that I consider extremely important, which includes my passport, legal documents and the like is kept in a small, concealed, fire-resistant safe with an electronic locking mechanism that can only be opened during a 1 hour window each day.

Anything else that is important is in a filing cabinet - once again, fire resistant, electronic locking, thing weighs a tonne.

I only keep one credit and one debit card in my wallet which is always either in my pocket or in my bedside cabinet. Any other cards I may have, along with a small amount of cash, are either in the safe or the filing cabinet.

Leaving utility bills and cards on a shelf in plain sight, particularly if they can be seen from a window, is, to be brutally honest, asking to be burgled and I can say this as a professional in the private security industry. The majority of burglaries are crimes of opportunity - you're much more likely to be burgled if you give the criminal an obvious target (ie. cards, bills/bank statements, a laptop etc.) that can be seen from the outside, and if you're showing yourself to be lapse in home security. Studies suggest it takes an average of seven seconds for an experienced burglar to make a decision about whether the potential target is worthwhile. If you cannot afford safes, filing cabinets or anything else, at least make sure that nothing valuable can be seen from a window and hide things in cabinets or drawers if necessary.

SailorSam

I have a fireproof safe, there's not as much in it now as when i worked on the cabs, but even then you couldn't keep everything in the safe unless the tax man knocked on the door, it was safer stuffed in the mattress.

Pixiechic

Wow, from reading this I really need to start thinking more about security!

We have an office style small rack that we put all our post in before we rush off to work. Guess where it is? On the window sill:eek:.
I am not very security aware at all. I am going to have to sort this out.

I love this website, I am not normally so stupid as this, but I have to say that I have never given any of it that much thought. I would never think that someone would want to steal a utility bill but given all the identity fraud going on now I should be far more cautious than I am. Asking for trouble really. Although I never throw things in the bin, I do shred documents .

Thanks guy's, much appreciated reading

seafarers_wife

i also keep my paperwork in the loft i figure a burgler is going to be more interested in the things he can see without having to go into the loft to get my paperwork. i do keep some paperwork in the bottom of my wardrobe but nothing of "great" importance.

Aarons_mummy

I keep all mine labelled in a lever arch file in the kitchen (I just moved in Monday so will change that ).

Before though I used to keep it in the top of the wardrobe where I knew where it was. There's nothing worth stealing in here, an experienced burglar wouldn't bother haha plus I'm at the back so to see in windows etc they would have to get into the garden which is a challenge enough in itself!

staffiecat

Out of interest, where do you get safes or lockable tins from? - I have been saying to OH for a while now that we should get a safe for our important documents but my worry with that is where on earth do you keep the safe - although its a deterrant surely a burglar would simply carry it out ? We did think about a lockable tin under the floorboards...

At the minute my paperwork is just kept in a cupboard, out of sight but easy to find if someone wanted to :eek:

Tropez

staffiecat wrote: »

Out of interest, where do you get safes or lockable tins from? - I have been saying to OH for a while now that we should get a safe for our important documents but my worry with that is where on earth do you keep the safe - although its a deterrant surely a burglar would simply carry it out ? We did think about a lockable tin under the floorboards...

At the minute my paperwork is just kept in a cupboard, out of sight but easy to find if someone wanted to :eek:

The most secure safes are concealed. In my case, when I was having my home office fitted, I had a compartment made to the exact specifications so that the safe would be able to slot in and there's a standard lockable cupboard in front of it.

It depends on your budget and the layout of your home as to how secure you can make a safe but any sort of concealment is generally fine. Always use a safe as a last line of defence for anything that you desperately need to keep hold of. Never leave a safe where it can be seen from the outside - it just screams "we have valuables!".

As for burglars carrying a safe out - unless it was a micro-safe of some sort burglars generally wouldn't try to remove it. Even the smaller ones weigh quite a lot and as the majority of burglaries are crimes of opportunity with little or no planning the ability to move a safe is difficult. Burglars generally don't even target televisions anymore because although the weight of them has decreased, the size of them has increased and there's generally more cables.

Statistics show most burglars aim to spend no more than a few minutes in a home before leaving, as they don't want to attract attention, don't want to confront anyone, and want to be long gone from the scene before anybody discovers it - therefore, they target small, valuable items that are in easy reach of their entry route (which is almost always their escape route) - a laptop, iPod or other MP3 player, car keys (especially car keys!), Blu-Ray player, Xbox or PS3 etc. Anything that can be easily carried and concealed is perfect - anything larger is a liability and would slow them down and would make them more likely to be seen. Some of them may look for spare house keys so they can come back at a later time with a van, hence why police suggest having the locks immediately changed following a break-in.

It is really own professional career criminals that carry out burglaries for the contents of safes and in these cases they already know what is in the home and how to get at it or they believe they can use force and/or weapons to threaten and intimidate. While these types of burglaries are highly publicised, they're comparatively rare and the most common type of burglary is carried out by no more than two people, usually a single person, sighting a high value, easily mobile object through a window and seeing an easy entrance (poorly fitted glass, damaged window frame, open window etc.).

Safes and lockable tins can be bought from various places. The high-end stuff generally comes from professional security companies but even the likes of Argos sell some form of safe and lockable cabinets.