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Home >> Safe Deposit Boxes
Bizarre Tale of a Safe Deposit Box
I lost my safe deposit box keys or maybe they were stolen. Now the bank has a station where you type in your box number and it scans your hand print to let you in the vault, so I'm not too concerned, unless of course, someone with access to the vault stole my key. Since this occurred at least two years ago, I am unsure if anything is still there, since I have been unable to check. The bank says that they need to call a guy to drill the lock to open it for a fee of $150 which seems reasonable.
Here's the bizarre part. I have never paid a monthly fee on this box, and all I have to prove of ownership is the envelope that the keys came in and of course my verifiable hand prints. Do banks often give their customers free boxes? I have always wondered about this, but while I had my key, I used it without problems, storing jewelry and some emergency cash. Not much is in there now since I moved everything except $11 in cash, a voter's registration card, my selective service card, and old credit cards that are closed. Should I pay the fee and take everything out or leave it there forever and forget about it?
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 It's entirely possible that your bank used its safe deposit boxes as loss leaders for other bank services. As for whether you ought to have the box drilled or not, that's a decision you'll have to make. At some point, if you don't reclaim the box and its contents, your bank will have to drill the box anyhow, and surrender its contents to the state.
Published on BankingQuestions.com 6/04/09
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