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I have had a safe deposit box for a lot of years. When Wells Fargo took over the local bank I had used since moving to North Carolina and I needed a new one, a safe deposit box was a non-negotiable requirement. I have used it to hold “important” papers, and my “good” jewelry when I was out of the country for months. But I’m no longer taking long trips, and the “important” papers have dwindled to my birth certificate, my marriage and divorce papers, the deed for my (2007) car, and my naturalization certificate, prominently marked “Do Not Copy” . There may be a copy of my will and associated papers in it, I forget, but there are also copies in my apartment and at my lawyer’s office.
Admittedly, the box only costs me $50/year, but do I really need it? Presumably I could replace all the documents, although replacing the naturalization certificate might be a hassle, and the birth certificate is the 1947 original, which I would be sorry to lose. But is it really worth $50 a year to protect them?
Should I buy a safe instead? It seems overkill. Besides, unless it’s bolted to the floor, which my CCRC might not allow, what’s to stop a thief just walking off with the whole thing? It would scream “the good stuff is here”. So I thought I would ask HumbleDollar readers what they do. Of course, you may have more things requiring protection – I don’t own a gun, and small electronics wouldn’t go in the safe in any case.
Should I be worried about fire rather than theft?
We also had a ‘free’ SDB from Wachovia before Wells Fargo took it over. But WF honored the old Wachovia benefits, so I got a free box at a WF in SW FL and all was well…Until Hurricane Irma flooded the bank and WF decided to close that branch! Fortunately ours was high enough to avoid damages, so after WF said they didn’t have any available we moved to a Truist SDB at a discounted $20. Good place for a few gold coins and paper bonds.
Gosh, as the folks who live in Paradise, CA deal with their second conflagration in which homes are totally destroyed, one might think that the reason for safety deposit boxes is self-evident. Perhaps we need to also remember the Oakland Hills Fire which was so hot that in the 1200 homes which burned even the concrete foundations were lost. Or, can we picture the survivors digging through the remnants of a tornado in the Midwest. Then there are landslides, hurricanes, earthquakes and floods.
Why would you back up your computer data to the cloud rather than just a separate local hard drive?
There is nothing wrong with owning a safe, and often good reasons for having one, but in so doing, don’t kid yourself that your stuff is just as safe as in a safety deposit box.
Are banks fireproof? Tornado proof?
The vault in the bank is many times stronger more fireproof than your home. Often they have sprinkler systems, and a bank vault can withstand a tornado.
Safer than a stick built house, I would hope so. However, I am now living in a steel and concrete apartment building. My apartment has fireproof doors, fire alarms and a sprinkler system. The fire brigade is remarkably prompt (not that we’ve had an actual fire). My SDB is in a vault, but it’s in a somewhat aged brick building.
See this article: Among other things it says: “When Hurricane Katrina slammed the Gulf Coast in 2005, at least 250 bank vaults went under water, flooding the contents of an estimated 8,000 safe deposit boxes, he said. Thousands of boxes were damaged when Hurricane Sandy struck the Northeast last October, too.”
This is sort of like the discussion of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. You cannot plan for Black Swan events. But, there are lots of high rise fires, despite the sprinklers etc. And, remember the Surfside condo collapse…https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfside_condominium_collapse.
People must make the best decisions they can after having chosen where to live. If you are in hurricane country you must accept the risks that come with that decision.
Where I live the big exposure is from EQ If the big M9 comes, I may not care if the bank building is gone…..And, even though single family structure fires here are very rare, for me the safest place for things like auto pink slips is an SDB. The $35 annual fee is de minimus.
We have a safe in the bedroom closet. It’s a big ‘un, big enough that no single thief could move it out of the house, but we don’t own enough jewelry to make the effort worthwhile. It’s entirely for documents — our passports and the immigration documents for Sarah’s family.
I evolved from renting a bank box after the bank branch closed. I decided that a heavy, steel safe was excessive. I now use a waterproof, fireproof bag that I keep in my home office. Check Amazon if you are interested in what is available.
Thanks. I’m starting to think that will be the solution. Depending on how much one costs.
Mine was about $45. “Fireproof and Waterproof Document Bag – 17 x 12 x 5” with Wallet Protector – Reflective to Find Fast at Night – Shield Important Documents & Valuables from Fire & Water – Firefighter Designed” It holds all my important papers.
Thanks. That’s less than one year’s SDB rent!
We just have a fire and waterproof file box. Contents include wills, POAs, and other oh no I’m dead documents, passports, and a few dollars. I don’t even keep it locked. I’m not to concerned about theft; would be burglars would have to get past Chrissy’s ferocious Balinese cat Sophie.
Dan..if you have a fire and waterproof file box you may wish to include the past three years of your tax returns.
Sophie sounds beautiful.
You would think that’s the first thing a retired tax preparer would have put in the safe! I will do that today.
Mine are online these days. I’m using a tax accountant and no paper is involved. I scan any originals and upload them to her website, later I download the completed forms but I no longer print them.
Love the cat! I’ve never worried about my passports, they’re in a file in my desk, but if I move on to a fireproof bag I might add them.
The cat is one of the hypoallergenic breeds. My kids are severely allergic to cats, but can tolerate this one very well.
I have a SDB at my credit union. Waiting time for the size I have was 8-10 years. The largest size requires a wait of 20+ years! $65/yr for mine.
My purpose for the SDB is “offsite storage” of important things. Before I retired I used my locker at work for that purpose.
For those who do keep valuable papers in a SDB or home safe, I would recommend putting them inside Ziplock bags. Water damage from firefighting can ruin valuables, too. Even banks/CUs suffer fires.
I added a co-owner to my SDB agreement; happens to also be my selected personal representative.
Go-bags mentioned below are important. After a wildfire evacuation caused me frantic moments, I put together 3 go-bags: 1 day, 1 week and 1 month. It took many, many hours of planning to get them right and document the contents (and what to add, last minute) so don’t tarry in creating one.
Congratulations on the go bags. And thanks for tip on plastic bags. I use them for papers when I’m traveling, but I hadn’t thought about it for the SDB.
$50 per year? I am struggling to understand this. If a lost/stolen/bbq’d document is important and would almost certainly require time and effort to replace, then I think $50 year is a very small price to pay.
That is separate from the question of whether Wells Fargo is the correct bank to use. Sounds like some of the posters have had a bad experience with them.
If you read all the comments you will see that I abandoned Wells Fargo soon after it took over Wachovia. I agree that $50/year is not much (although it looks a bit bigger if you multiply it by 30 years) but why pay it if there’s a better solution.
To each his/her own. I don’t judge. Haha!
If you buy a safe, that’s an expense. If you move, taking a safe with you can be a hassle depending upon the weight/dimensions.
Since i moved to a CCRC last year, the only moves I anticipate are from Independent to Assisted Living, and perhaps eventually Skilled Nursing. If I have to move maintenance will handle the heavy lifting. I agree that it would be a hassle if I were moving house without assistance.
My parents bought a house in the mid 1970’s and the previous owners installed a safe in the garage. This beast was a steel block about the size of the freezer that sat next to it. The opening was an 8-10 inch and about the same depth. Yes, it was theft proof, fireproof and because of its size, weight and position under the master bedroom, immovable. Since the former owner did not provide a combination, my dad searched for a way to change the combination and could not find anyone capable. It was useless.
Today I have a small safe for fire protection. The contents include the abstract to the house, deed, etc., will and POA, a few personal items, and spare keys. I placed the safe in the basement, several inches off the floor to avoid any chance of water damage.
My safe deposit box primarily stores end-of-life information, including account numbers, digital passwords, etc., for the attorney who would be executor of my estate. The law firm has a note in my file about the location of this information. Not a perfect solution, perhaps, but presumably safer than having a copy at the law office.
Will your executor have access to the box immediately after your death? I’ve heard countless stories of families being unable to get into safe-deposit boxes after the owner’s death because first the local tax authority needed to examine the contents. Often, the box included funeral instructions, and the deceased ended up with an expensive burial, rather than being cremated as he or she desired.
Interesting. I’ve heard of the bank making it difficult, but not the tax authorities! They’d be very disappointed with mine.
This gets down to threat modeling. What are you protecting against?
– Loss via physical theft?
– Fire?
– Petty costs (bank fees)?
– Bank Bureaucracies?
– The government?
My father had some gold coins in a safe deposit box that his father had squirreled away probably around the time of the Gold Reserve Act (1934). Who ya gonna trust? FDR or gold-in-hand?
In the “yes I’m paranoid bacuase my career in cyber security paid me to be for 20 years” department, would you admit in a public forum that you had a safe at your place of residence? (threat model: someone breaking into my house looking for something with potential value that I’ve advertised to be there. Out of sight/public posting, out of mind)
Theft and fire. The government already knows my naturalization status, not to mention a bunch of other data I had to give them to get it.
Never had a safe deposit box. “Good jewelry” was hidden – not perfect, but someone would have to stay long enough to rummage around and look. (Maybe a tougher solution in a CCRC apartment.) Important papers were in a fireproof box, locked but with the key in it so anyone could see it was just papers.
My siblings-in-law have a fireproof bag. If they were home when fire struck, they could grab it if they wanted to. Not sure about the fire rating but probably not the same as a box.
One of our insurance companies provides free document storage as a benefit of membership. Some other important papers are there. I wonder if your lawyer might store an extra paper or two.
I don’t know that a the safe deposit box is necessary, but also don’t think $50 a year is a lot of money for things I’d be really sorry to lose.
I might look into the fireproof bag. I live in a steel and concrete apartment building with fireproof doors to the apartments and a very responsive fire department nearby, so perhaps not a major worry.
We have three fireproof safes in our house. After a bad experience with Wells Fargo, I wouldn’t ever think of having a safe deposit box.
Timely article from clark.com. https://clark.com/personal-finance-credit/banks-banking/safe-deposit-box/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_campaign=ClarkDailyNewsletter&_bhlid=9cae41ea14391bd1bdd78dfbb4fd44462807573a
My safe deposit box survived the take-over of my bank by Wells Fargo (although Wells Fargo then lost me as a customer). I might be more worried about hurricanes and tornadoes, although hurricanes don’t usually make it this far inland the climate is changing. I live in an apartment, there’s nowhere to hide a safe, and I only want to safeguard a few papers. I can’t imagine needing three safes!
LOL! I should have mentioned that two of the safes were inherited after family members passed away. I agree, the tornadoes are more worrisome, although hurricane OPAL hit us in 1995 just outside of Atlanta.
Good question. I wrestled with the same thought about 10 years ago and what I’ve ended up doing is giving up the safety deposit box and getting a small safe (roughly 18″ cube) with a key lock. I keep some papers in it that I’d rather not lose for pretty much the same reasons you’ve articulated. I keep it shut but not locked, and with the key in it (to make the point it’s unlocked). I really only want to safeguard a small number of papers from a house fire, and I think my safe would do that. But who knows if a burglar would just grab it and run. My hope is that with it unlocked and with the key in the lock, a burglar would just open it and see it’s just paperwork. All that said, your article has me rethinking it. I’ll probably keep it but I suspect the passage of time will allow me to weed out all but just a few documents, with most either being shredded and/or scanned into my cloud drive. Probably only a very select few will remain hardcopy in the safe, with a scanned version in the cloud in case they’re stolen. Not perfect, but adequate for me.
Interesting. If the real problem is fire, maybe I should just put an envelope in a drawer in the table by the door, to be grabbed on the way out if the alarm goes off.
Perhaps another reason to have a go bag. Of course a go bag only helps if you’re there to “go.”
Your comment has me pondering what I’d want to grab if I had only an instant. My first thought is a few family mementos scattered around the house. Those are the items in our house that I’d really miss if disaster was about to strike.
OldITGuy – We had a 1988 house fire and the only regretted loss were some pictures despite losing 3/4 of our possessions – most pics fortunately survived. Since then, we have constructed several picture books of our family’s life together via Shutterfly. While these books would be the first thing we grab, Shutterfly maintains a digital backup of these books.
These few books are also the the first possession we’ll be taking to the assisted living facility.
Ha. I also had a Wells Fargo safe deposit box in Raleigh, but only because they took over my Wachovia accounts during the banking crisis. WF managed to really anger me with fees, changes, and turnover at my local branch. So I switched to the NC State Employees’ Credit Union because my wife was a member. The safe deposit box was and continues to be cheaper ($20/year) so I moved the contents from one to the other and closed all my WF accounts. We also have a small safe, but I doubt it would protect really important stuff from the heat of a housefire.
Depends on its fire rating. I choose one that had a 1 hour rating which I thought would be adequate given a fire station is 1 mile away.
Yes, it was Wachovia. My Credit Union doesn’t have safe deposit boxes, so I moved to First Citizens.