The one natural disaster they can’t always protect against is a flood. Bank vaults are usually strong enough to withstand fires and high winds that could destroy a typical home. And if you happen to be home when criminals break in, they can force you to open the safe for them.Ī safe deposit box also offers better protection against natural disasters.

That means a burglar could simply make off with your entire safe and drill into it later to extract the contents. It’s possible to have a safe built into the wall of your home, but it’s quite expensive. However, experts say a safe deposit box offers better security.įor one thing, most home safes are portable.

For instance, you could safely store these items in a small fireproof safe at home. (The cost used to be tax-deductible as well, but the 2017 tax reform bill eliminated this deduction.)Ī safe deposit box isn’t the only place to keep your valuables or important papers. However, some bank accounts give you a discount on this fee. According to The New York Times, financial institutions charge anywhere from $20 to $200 per year for a box, depending on its size and the bank’s location. Most banks require some proof of identity before they’ll open a box, such as a signature that they can compare with your signature on file.Ī safe deposit box is an extra that isn’t included with a typical bank account. But the bank won’t open a box, or the locked room where it’s kept, for just anyone. If someone steals the key to your safe deposit box, they won’t be able to get into the box without the help of a bank employee. Having two keys adds an extra layer of security. If another person, such as a spouse, shares the box with you, each of you gets one copy of the renter’s key. You keep one key, and the bank has the other. A typical box has two keyholes, so the only way to unlock it is to insert both keys at once. How Safe Deposit Boxes Workįor those who have never seen one in person, a safe deposit box is a long, narrow metal box that’s stored in a locked room at a bank or credit union. And if you don’t, here are some of the items that might make you consider getting one. So if you have a safe deposit box, here’s a rundown of what’s best to store and not to store in it. And there are some physical valuables that, for one reason or another, are best stored elsewhere. When your belongings are locked up in a box at the bank, you can only access them when the bank is open - which is a big problem for papers you might need to access in an emergency.

However, that doesn’t mean you should use a safe deposit box to store everything you value. For these precious papers and belongings, a safe deposit box is still the safest place. And there’s still no way to make digital copies of physical objects that are valuable to you, such as family heirlooms or collectibles. Even in today’s largely paperless digital age, there are some occasions when you need the original copy of a paper document, such as your birth certificate or the deed to your house. The New York Times reports that many banks no longer offer them, and many that do say that half or more of their boxes are currently sitting empty.īut safe deposit boxes still serve a purpose. And indeed, there’s evidence that safe deposit boxes are on the decline. Nowadays, it’s so easy to store financial records and other important documents in digital form that the idea of keeping important papers in a locked bank vault sounds ridiculously 20th-century. To some people, bank safe deposit boxes seem like a relic of the past.

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