Safe deposit boxes

[jean88]

I am thinking of using the safe deposit box service provided from a well-known bank. Is the ones that goes into the wall not the money box type that you put in a bank vault. Have any ABers used this service before? If so, how safe is it? What should I look out for?

Thanks x

[Sammy Snake]

Do you mean the 'Night Safe' whereby you are given plastic boxes or similar to put your cash in and also a key and then you put them through the hatch in the wall when the Bank is closed?

If so - try not to go to the Bank at the same time each night and make sure there is no-one behind you when you use it.  It's highly unlikely that anyone would be tracking your movements but always better to be safe than sorry.

I don't know what type of container you will be using but at the Bank I worked for, they were plastic boxes and if they were filled with coin, when they were deposited into the night safe they had a habit of breaking as they hit the bottom of the safe, spilling all the contents.  So try not to put too much coin into one box.

Other than that they are perfectly safe, we used to open the safe each morning (two people), the contents were removed and then each box was emptied/counted as it would have been had you paid it over the counter.  It always helps if the Bank have your phone number so hat they can contact you straight away if there is any discrepancy.

[jean88]

No, I dont mean a night safe. This service is acturally quite scarce in this country but they do do it in big cities, like London, Birmingham and Manchester. I say this because when I went into my local branch and asked the people were unaware of it and they said "like the ones in the american movies", I said yes, you should contact the main branch, not all banks have them. Normally, the boxes are situated underground of a main branch, its like a big vault with lots of boxes that goes into individual lockers, it takes two keys to open the box, the bank has one and you keep one yourself. There is a reception and they ask for your id, box code, signature and all securities checks before you go through two gates which opens one at a time and a guard/keeper is inside the vault to guide you and open the box with the first key, there are cameras everywhere and only box owners ae allow in. This sounds very safe doesnt it.

I am concern if the security problem of misconducts of employees.

[Sammy Snake]

Oh right!  Sorry, I totally misunderstood your question.

[jean88]

Thanks for trying anyway Sammy Snake

[shimmer]

I work for a high street bank in a big city, and as far as I know none of the banks offer the service you describe anywhere but perhaps at head office branches in London. Largely depends on what it is you are wishing to deposit. You mention you're wary of using the type of box you put inn the bank vault, but I don't really understand why. This type of storage, which is generally called 'safe custody', is secure and reliable. You need not worry about misconduct of bank employees, as all safe custody parcels are held under dual control, so one person alone can never access them. Also, the bank do not need to know what you're putting in the box, and will do all the security checks before you access the box again. You will be able to access the box whenever you need to during branch opening times, and when the branch isn't open your box would be as secure as is possible, as they are generally stored in the same vault as the money, which is very very very highly protected (I won't go into detail!).

The service you describe is unusual, as it is not very cost effective for the banks to run, also is risky for banks as run risk of storing illegal items. This is also possible in safe custody of course, but is more unlikely, because of the way they're stored.

Final thought: it's probably a lot cheaper to store items in safe custody than in the system you describe, so reall does depend on what you're storing. Let me know what you decide! 

[jean88]

Thanks, actually this service is very common in the Far- East, the US and other parts of the world, its when you want to keep safe valuables and paperworks. Is just very scarce in the UK. Not all banks provide them only a few do, as far as I know apart from London, Manchester and Birmingham do them. People I know have been using the service for many years, just wondering if it is as good as they said.

Safe custody ( a money box in a banks vault?), its not safe at all, I have heard too much bad stories about these.

[shimmer]

Intrigued about the stories you've hear about safe custody? I'm not being funny, just curious, as I work in a bank and, from the info we as staff are given by head office, it's supposed to be completely secure! Just goes to show we can't always believe what we're told by our bosses!

Can I ask what the bad stories are you've heard? Doesn't matter if you don't wnat to tell them, I just have this inquisitiveness when I hear something that interests me! Also, like you I'll be intrigued to hear from anyone who has used the service you speak of!

[jean88]

Hi shimmer, I totally understand where you are coming from, I have ask lots of other banks about the safe deopsit boxes and they have never heard of this service but a few branches do provide this service I got recommendations from friends and family, but you have to bank with them first for at least a year. Like I said just want to know more about this, dont just want to take their words for it. It does sound safe doesn it?? Well, in the Far-East recently a bank was building new boxes, I think moving to a new building, knocking down old one but they forgot to inform the customers to empty their boxes first, they lost all their customers valuables. Human/bank error.

The safe custody (money box), not all bank provide these anymore, only at main branches, they use to have this service at my local branch, they said they dont have such a vault at the premises no more, service no longer available. Its not that cheap anyway, you pay an annual fee and there is a limited access per year, I think you are allowed 4 visit/access a year and you have to pay all additional visits. 

Its not safe anyway, one incident happened to a friend with the safe custody was you buy your money/cash box from the high street, not that many types availble, lots of people buy the same make, cheap, bad quality. One day she went to get something from the box, they brought the box out to her, she opened it with her key, to her surprise she found lots of money, jewellery and gold coins in the box which didnt belong to her. She only got bits of jewellery and documents in her own box. She was so shocked she informed the staff, and it turned out to be somebody elses box and the cheap box on the market have same keys. Thats how safe these boxes are, so you know what I mean now. Is the banks fault as well they brought out the wrong box.

[jean88]

My friend regret that she never took the gold and run but she would never get away with it anyway.   :)

Surprised?

Things like these dont happen everyday.

Thanks for your posts anyway.