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patrick_y
[PuristSPro Moderator]
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PuristSPro Advice: Don't Blindly Trust Your Bank Safe Deposit Box!

Your safe deposit box at your bank may not be as secure as you think!  Moderator Patrick_y shares some unscrupulous bank practices and accidents that happen to safe deposit boxes, along with recommendations and advice on how you can better prevent and protect yourself from such an accident or unfortunate circumstance.  Remember, reputable banks commit criminal acts too! 

This beautiful safe by German manufaktur Dottling can fit 1-3 watches! 

I saw this news article last night on the local news in San Francisco last night and I just wanted to share this to other PuristSPro members.  The video shows a large bank chain that drilled customer's safety deposit boxes for no reason, dumped the contents into a plastic bag, damage and lose some of the contents, then mail them back to the customers months later mangled and tangled in a standard cardboard UPS/FedEx box.  The bank claimed they mailed documents to the box tenants, but none of them received them.  The tenants also had numerous contacts left with the bank and claim to have been never contacted. 

I recently suffered some paperwork problems at my local bank where the bank claimed they mailed me documents.  I never received them and I'm in doubt they ever mailed them.  Also, the bank had two phone numbers and an email to contact me.  I had no voicemails nor miss calls nor emails from the bank.  The bank fabricates stories.  I didn't discover the problem until one day I went to the branch! 

sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com

Banks in the United States have no regulation on how to store and maintain your contents at a safety deposit box.  Since it's done at the branch level, by employees with little and infrequent specialized training, a lot of problems and mismanagement happens when your safety deposit box is drilled. 

Every security plan is three parts; 1, prevention and preparation (active safety), do what you can to prevent a mistake from happening to you; 2, loss mitigation of the situation if unavoidable (passive safety) make things difficult for the perpetrator; 3, recovery of loss post situation (aftermath) use your written-down serial numbers and copies of documents to get your original property back.

I'm not advocating that you move your contents from your safety deposit box and PuristSPro is not a security consulting company.  Those important papers, watches, and jewelry are likely to be safer at the bank than at a typical home of office.  But I am advocating you follow these steps to protect yourself:
1.  Go to the bank and ask for a copy of your safe deposit box contract. 
2.  Take a photo of it with your cell phone camera and keep digital copies in two safe places accessible by the cloud.  Also, what happens if you suffer a stroke or memory loss?  Keep a hard copy in your desk so you remember that you even have a safety deposit box. 
3.  While you're at the bank, go over the paperwork and make sure everything is filled out, correct, and satisfactory and that the bank has your address and phone numbers accurately.  Go over it with the bank manager and take his/her business card.  Bank managers move often and see many customers and won't remember you, so write down on the back of the business card the date, time, and reason for your visit, "Update Deposit Box Info." 
4.  Don't forget what you keep in your box.  Sometimes I wonder what papers and contents are inside my box.  I can imagine it gets even more confusing when you have more than one box.  Keep an inventory of what files, important papers, and valuable objects are inside your box.  We tend to remember what valuables we put into our boxes, but we forget which deeds and insurance policy paperworks we put in.  Keep a standardized system.  Yes, the ownership deed to the 20 year old car goes in only because all the other car deeds are in the box. 
5.  The steel door to your actual box is less secure than what you think.  Those doors may look impressive, but the locks and the hinges often malfunction, meaning someone can actually gain entry to your box by accident!  Lightly shake your door to make sure the hinges (which may have tiny pins going through them) are secure, visually inspect the hinge to make sure the pins aren't falling out.  A bank employee recently told me that the boxes actually open or the doors fall off when they had to tip a column of boxes to access something behind it for repairs! 
6.  Repeat all the steps above every 2-3 years.  Keep the inventory every time you go in and out, and reconcile the inventory twice a year.  Do a full inventory audit every 2-3 years. 

It's unlikely anything will ever happen and it's unlikely that the bank will mistakenly drill your box for the wrong reasons.  But accidents do happen.  Prepare for the worst, hope for the best! 

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