There are an estimated 25 million safe deposit boxes in America, and they operate in a legal gray zone within the highly regulated banking industry. There are no federal laws governing the boxes; no rules require banks to compensate customers if their property is stolen or destroyed.

Every year, a few hundred customers report to the authorities that valuable items — art, memorabilia, diamonds, jewelry, rare coins, stacks of cash — have disappeared from their safe deposit boxes.

But even when a bank is clearly at fault, customers rarely recover more than a small fraction of what they’ve lost — if they recover anything at all. The combination of lax regulations and customers not paying attention to the fine print of their box-leasing agreements allows many banks to deflect responsibility when valuables are damaged or go missing.

“The big banks fight tooth and nail, and prolong and delay — whatever it takes to wear people down,” said David P. McGuinn, the founder of Safe Deposit Specialists, an industry consulting firm. “The larger the claim, the more likely they are to battle it for years.”

  • Water Bowl Slime
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    fedilink
    111 year ago

    I thought compensation in the case of damage/loss was the whole point of these things. What’s stopping the bank from just stealing everything they’re “keeping safe”?

    • @redtea@lemmygrad.ml
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      fedilink
      41 year ago

      It may not seem like much, but probably reputation. This is also the only thing keeping most ‘homeowners’ safe. Banks can foreclose on mortgages very easily, even if the homeowner has been paying on time every month. Last I checked, the homeowner is only safe for six months after the start of the mortgage. After that, the bank can foreclose. This rule mayb depend on the country. Sounds the same as these deposit boxes: if people read the contract, they’d never use the service. Unfortunately most people don’t have a choice. The workers need somewhere to live and the FBI needs somewhere to stash it’s drug money.

    • Literally nothing, the liability they are responsible for is no more than 10x the annual rate. A small box where I’m at is $35/year while it’s a safe bet the items stored in the box exceed that value in a big way. This article blew my mind!