Best place to store Important papers?

andre_xs

I also find this a very interesting thread, some thoughts:

- I think (as has already been said), it really makes a difference whether you want to protect them from fire/water/etc, or from theft, or both. When I researched this a little bit, my impression was that safes which are fire-proof in the sense that they keep the inside temperature low enough so that the inside doesn't burn/get charcoal black/melts is very expensive and not worth my average stuff. I also noted that many more affordable safes are quite small (not even fitting A4 documents). My approach is to store some stuff (like passports) in a fireproof bag in a place where I would think that a house fire doesn't do much (e.g. because there's not much to burn in the area, all concrete).

- Thieves are usually trying to get in and out quickly, and search only the standard hiding places (we had a burglary, that's what we experienced and also what the police told us). Thus, I don't hide stuff in the bedroom under the bed linens or under the mattress or alike. Instead, I would hide stuff with the cleaning materials under the sink, in the back of our super-messy cupboard under the stairs, or alike. That might be different if you have real valuables and are targeted by thieves who know/suspect about this.

- For all documents, I have electronic scans/copies. If you are worried about identity theft, encrypt them before storing them somewhere (there are free tools like VeraCrypt, or you create a password protected 7zip file, or both; computers / hard drive partitions / USB drives can be encrypted using Windows' Bitlocker). I don't know, but are there nowadays any documents you couldn't request a new copy if the original is lost? In particular if you have all the details from an electronic copy of the original. So it may be easier to say that in the worst case (house fire, flooding, tornado,...) you'll get everything newly issued, instead of making a big effort in making them safe (this of course doesn't tackle the theft issue).

- If you don't want to store anything online (even encrypted), then a potential second independent place to store things could be the workplace. This of course heavily depends on the job, the workplace, etc. But for example I guess that most people could keep an encrypted USB memory stick somehow/somewhere at their workplace. Some workplaces are also much better protected against fire than standard homes.

victor2

Sometimes you need the original document and an image of it is insufficient. Getting a certified copy of an original can be difficult/impossible, especially if the original came from another country. I speak from experience!

However, I do have digital copies of many important documents stored encrypted online, where my daughter can get at them in my absence if necessary. I'm sure there is sufficient detail there to allow someone to carry out identity theft should they fall into the wrong hands decrypted. Today's encryption techniques may well succumb to future computing power, but I may not be around by then and there aren't any state secrets in there.

FreeBear

victor2 said: Today's encryption techniques may well succumb to future computing power, but I may not be around by then and there aren't any state secrets in there.

Many encryption algorithms can be cracked pretty quick today. Had some numpty send me a bunch of password protected PDFs in breach of the GDPA. Only took me a couple of hours to crack the password and find the address of the data subject (wanted to send him a letter so that he could raise a complaint with the ICO).

For more "secure" encrypted data such as messages sent to/from cash points, that can be cracked in a matter of hours using low cost "off the shelf" hardware - https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rnc1/descrack/DEScracker.html

DullGreyGuy

How many people do you think want break into your house to steal your marriage certificate? They can buy one from the GRO etc etc

Having a safe for docs is more likely to result in someone trying to take it in the hope there is jewellery or other items with intrinsic value in it. 

Personally have ours in a locked filing cabinet to stop nosey people. Probably should be in a fire proof pouch in a water proof one but never got round to it.

TomokoAdhami

Firstly you should wrap them in plastic bags then you can store them in a fireproof safe or fingerprint safe at your home. Similarly, Safety Deposit Box could also be a reliable option if you are ready to place them outside of your home. By the way, why don't you save them through Google Drive, Dropbox, Evernote and much more. 

victor2

DullGreyGuy said:

How many people do you think want break into your house to steal your marriage certificate? They can buy one from the GRO etc etc
...

None hopefully. It's foreign as it happens, so is not available from the usual places.

However, I was thinking more of protection against fire in that particular case, and realised from this thread that a waterproof wallet makes a lot of sense. Of course, once you've got a safe, you would put valuables in it as well. Hence you don't want it in an obvious spot.

_Sam_

Interesting thread. We don't really have valuables, few things that are expensive are insured so can be replaced, so I never thought about getting a safe.

A passport and couple of small items I would rather not loose we keep in an empty travel suitcase on the top shelf of the wardrobe. There is also a bit of cash, some spare midlayer fleece and similar emergency stuff. And a back-up hard drive of my computer. (I also have the second back-up hard drive that I keep in the locked drawer in my office at work.) My thinking is if for some reason we have to evacuate at a moments notice I can grab the suitcase and go.

I like to have mortice locks on some of the internal doors in the house. In the event of a burglary when we are not at home, the locked doors will be a small obstacle to slow the burglars down. And handy if I ask the neighbour to come water plants while we are away, removes the temptation to nosy about in our personal things.

 

TripleH

We have an encrypted USB stick with scanned copies of important information on for us and in-laws.

They have one the same. Each time either of us visit, we update the information each party has.

Better than my father who had a notebook but didn't update it. Took ages to get access / reset accounts when he died. When FIL had an emergency bypass and needed to pay for it, my wife had the details needed so her mum could do it as he was usual gatekeeper 

DullGreyGuy

_Sam_ said:

A passport and couple of small items I would rather not loose we keep in an empty travel suitcase on the top shelf of the wardrobe. 

When we were robbed as students they stole my flatmate's suitcase to empty my CD collection into. His passport was in his suitcase so those were is only two losses. It always was joked about what it said about our respective music tastes. 

Police thought the passport wasnt a targeted theft but just they needed something to carry their haul in. 

We have a travel wallet which has things like passports, Priorty Pass, EHIC, airline/hotel status cards etc and its kept in a draw in my desk.

Plasticman

Wow. Didn't realise having a fire safe was so common! I've always just considered passports, birth certificates etc as replaceable. If I'm due to go on holiday and my house burns down then I'm probably not going to be going anyway so the lost passport won't be my biggest worry. I have the paper deeds to my house but I don't think that these are essential any more are they as they're digitised now? The only thing that would be problematic for me is exam certificates.