Tax time, got my fun money!

My grandmother has supposedly had a safe deposit box for about 40 years.
She supposedly put most of the payments she got for selling their starter house in 1985, my grandpas fuel oil business and rock quarry sold for cash when he died in 1994, then when she down sized from the 4,400 square foot new England craftsman home that was paid off in 1999 to a trailer home.
Her homes were broken into shortly after grandpas' businesses were sold and after she sold the family home, wonder what they were looking for?????
I'm sure they weren't looking for money, just pure coincidence those were the only times her homes were ever broken into I'm sure.
If my grandmother kept her money in her house she would probably be broke and destitute today if not dead.

 

Well, there you go...welcome to my nightmare. So, you spend a lifetime trying to make good and, against all odds, you do, now what do you do? Safe Deposit Box? Not if we hit an Economic wall and collapse from it. And, of ALL things that are possible to bring about a huge failure in this country Economic failure probably holds the #1 slot. Change it to gold and bury in the back yard? Move the money out of the country? What an interesting question with a thousand solutions of which none are worth a crap... Believe you me, I am opening to suggestions!

@UncleMorgan My God, is that true? What I have done is that I have a small 'cut-out' bank which I transfer a sum that is sufficient to support my meager needs for 6 months normally less) and via this bank I use my Debit Card exclusively thinking that if I am indeed compromise that only a small portion of savings is at risk; however, I did not realize the Debit Card does not have the same credentials/backing/safeguards as the Credit Card. I shall be calling my bank tomorrow morning and enquiring and shall report my findings. And, I hope you are wrong...but, admit, I have a bad feeling you are not. Why is nothing ever easy in this country?

 

@oil pan 4 No, no, no... you are absolutely correct. Keeping a sizeable sum anywhere on the property is asking for a nightmare. Totally agree. And, if two people know then it isn't a secret...which leads to another nightmare. And, if one person knows - well - odds are something bad will happen to that person and it is lost forever. One thing is for certain as the sun rising, people talk... There is no perfect solution.

 

independent Vaults cost the same as banks
Or learn how to Vault internal , but THINK , Im going further .
Stumps with a bank inside ETC .
I live in a rain forest & I wood never do that !!

 

Only use debt card at the ATM.
If your card and pin are stolen and money is withdrawn, it's as good as gone. That's why I only ever keep about a month worth of operating costs in my checking account.
As the ballance accumulates after 2 or 3 months I take it out and spend it on hookers and booze. And that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Prior to 2007 I would just let it accumulate in my checking account. Bad idea.

 

Agree with all above! My Dad had a safe deposit box for years and years, then one day the bank shut it's doors and went out of business, had to get the Sheriff to go to the building with him to get inside and retrieve his box. I don't know much of the details involved, but it was weeks of back and forth to get access to his stuff! The bank supposedly sent out letters to folks, but Dad never got one, and no phone call ether. Do not trust banks!!!

 

@UncleMorgan I did some investigating reporting and thought I would spread the knowledge for what it is worth...

"No one should EVER use a safety deposit box at a bank. Especially if they want to keep something valuable safe."
I believe this is best answered by a couple of questions...

#1. "What happens to my safety deposit box if the bank fails?"
"When a bank becomes insolvent or goes bankrupt, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation shuts down the bank’s operations and seizes control of its assets. The contents of a safe deposit box are not at risk in any way during the closure of a bankrupt bank. However, you may have limited access to the contents of your box for a period of time." Article went on to say that normally the FDIC would open the bank the following day or two.

#2. "Is a Safe Deposit Box actually safe?"
A. "safe deposit boxes are not insured by the FDIC"
B. Banks can make mistakes such as 'due to missing account information' and drill them open, shipping the contents off to a holding center. (FYI CBS did a special report of this)

"No one should EVER use a debit card. A debit card is the same as a wallet full of cash. If someone gets access to it, the money is gone. Period. Likewise, unlike a credit card, there are no avenues for redress in a bad transaction. You've already paid cash with a debit card, so there's no way to stop the payment."
According to my bank, this is true however if the transaction is still 'pending' or if you have an Auto-pay on something then it is quite easy to stop. The problem being that the computers and networks are now so fast that a transaction happens almost immediately on most things. Concerning someone gaining access to your Debit Card and using it for cash or over-the-counter purchases, they would, of course, have to have the actually card (due to the new chip technology) plus the pin. Of course, online use is a different animal but transaction times are a bit longer which might assist the card owner in some regard.

 

Hiya, Bandit 99!
The perils of the safe deposit box truly boggle the mind.

1. If the Gubermint decides to, they can open you safe deposit box and "investigate" it. And they can do that without notifying you, before or after. In fact, they can (and do) open safe deposit boxes without a warrant, all the time. All they have to do is flash a badge and say "National Security". And they can prevent the bank from telling you about it, too.

But that's okay--it's usually not the Gubbermint you gotta worry about. It's the bank.

See, when safe deposit boxes go "abandoned", the banks can open them, dispose of the "trash" inside, and often keep a large portion of the money. They are so happy to do this that they sometimes loot "abandoned" safe deposit boxes that are being accessed by the owners regularly, and for which the fees are still fully paid up.

By the way, the only time banks actually drill safe deposit boxes is when there are cameras rolling or reporters present. Those guys have duplicates of ALL the keys. And those are the keys they use when the Feds come snooping around.

Actually, though, the bankers are not lying when they tell you that you have the only copy of the second key. That's true: You have the only copy, and they have the only original.

Never trust a banker.

Consider this:
Can Banks Raiding Safety Deposit Boxes Be Legal Next After they Loot their Customers Personal Accounts?

and this:

How Safe Is Your Safe-Deposit Box?

Frankly, bank robbers (that aren't employed by the bank) are the people least likely to steal you goodies.

I don't necessarily advocate keeping one's valuables in a mattress (bullion gets kind of lumpy after a while) but I do advocate keeping them some place that no one will ever have the opportunity to assure you is safe.

Now if I was ever to decide I wanted a safe deposit box, I'd find me a bank with good cell phone service--in the vault.

The first thing I would put in my box would be a cell phone that would robo-call me, and soon as it was activated by light. That way, when they opened my box behind my back, I'd know about it one ring later--and could eavesdrop on them thereafter.

But, hey, safe deposit boxes aren't all bad:
Sovereign Bank Safe Deposit Box Stuffed With Cash; Kathleen Ricigliano, Joe Valinoti Report Loot | HuffPost

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Like SO TRUE

Mine is wasted on fat cars & fling wings .

 

That' why the wife and I built our house around the two big ass safes! Cant break into the safes easily, and cannot remove with out dismantling a large part of the house! We can put large quantities of stuff inside and we are very confident that what ever we put inside will be there when we need it! Some one would really have their hands full if they really wanted in them, and while not completey proof, their close as we could afford, certainly better then a bank! We also built hidyholes through out, mostly for fun, but they do serve to keep things secure with out the need for real serious security, mostly for the remote potential of a threat that in all likelihood will never come!

 

@UncleMorgan Hmmm... I didn't see the ABC piece and thought the CBS report was a few isolated incidents - apparently not. I got to admit that I do continue to learn on this site.

Well, I guess it's back to the old 8 inch PVC pipe buried in the ground.

 

I have resided abroad (outside the US) for the past two decades. I have used both debit and VISA / MasterCard countless times, in a number of different countries. Over that time, there were a few completed transactions where I did not receive the goods or services paid for. Each time, the purchases were reversed.

Knock on wood, although I had one VISA / Debit Card stolen, every transaction was reversed and 100% of the funds were deposited back into my account. My banking institutions watch my spending habits. Not only do they know purchases weren't made by me because of this, they also automatically blocked that specific card after the second, or possibly the third attempted transaction. (I'm not saying them watching my transactions are a good thing. However, it did stop any further monies from being used by the thieves.)

Aside from the above single stolen card, again - knock on wood, I have never experienced a loss of funds, in any amount, due to ATM errors, theft, etc. Fortunately, I don't have to deal with any foreign ATM fees or bank charges, where I currently reside.

Living in SEA, you learn to not trust banks pretty fast. In my case, I am limited as to a few banking institutions I have to trust, somewhat anyway, in order to have access to my funds. The institutions I do deal with are in three countries. I wish there were another way to sort this. Unfortunately for me, there isn't - not at this juncture, anyway. But, they are more trustworthy than any banking institutions in this part of the world. Either way, I live off using my VISA / MasterCard Debit & Charge Cards, until such time as when SHTF. But, we do keep ample emergency cash on hand, in a very secure place on our property. That is the best we can hope to do, for now.

 

I am fascinated by how people focus on the rare exceptions rather than the norm.

On the TV show "it takes a thief" the professional burgers were actually really good a finding little hiding places. They knew what to look for, if they found something in a hiding spot they knew to take a close look. The few shows where people relied on hiding spots they were always found, and probably 75% to 90% of their hiding spots were cleaned out.
If they couldn't crack a safe they took it with them. If they were violent criminals and they encountered a safe they couldn't crack or haul away I'm sure they could convince the safes owners to open it for them if the criminals thought the contents were worth a potential life sentence or worse.

 

If a thief can even locate our safe, I will give him / her the contents of it.

 

This thread is frustrating. Frustrating because I wonder where is one supposed to safely keep their money? I am not in the position to build a house around a safe. I cannot bolt a safe to a structure because I am renting. I was getting ready to rent my first safe deposit box but am now reconsidering. I will not put all my cash in gold or silver because I know someone who fell on hard-times and had to sell their silver and did not get their investment back. What is a monkey to do?

 

Just get a safe deposit box from a small local bank or credit union.
On average you have about a 1 to 2% chance of your home being burglerized and unless you have built your home with some god level hiding spots then plan on your stash being found and made off with.
Normal Insurance doesn't cover PM, bullion, rare coins, ect, I already asked.

Passanger vehicles are usually a liability.
Since they tend to cost money and lose value at a catastrophicrate rates when new.

For PM wait till it's at least at a 1 to 2 year low, that way there is less chance you will ever have to sell it at a loss.
For example all the yahoos buying gold now. Bad idea. Gold has barely spent any time at all above 1,300 an ounce over the past 4 years.
It could be 2 to 6 years or more before $1,300 is the normal gold price.
I'm very bearish when it comes to PM.

 

Price out a credit union box & a private "
SafePoint | Loomis US
Products & Services | Loomis US

There are many private services & cost about the same .
Credit unions are just a wee bit better than a bank , but still fall under the banking laws of NOT YOUR MONEY

 

In my next house I plan on having three safes - one will be a Costco type safe in my bedroom suite. It will have a few inexpensive rifles and mostly crap. In the bottom will be a second safe that will be full of scrap metal and weigh a few hundred lbs - heavy, but just movable with some difficulty. It will be labeled gold, silver, and grandma's jewelry and the door will be epoxied shut. A third safe made from plate steel and not impressive looking folded sheet metal will either be built into the house with walls on three sides and accessible through a small utility room or will be in a utility room and covered with duct work. That's the real safe.

I also fantasize about storing a claymore mine in the bedroom decoy safe and making the combination 3, 2, 1...

 

Great so far , BUT THINK deeper or further .

One to be a let go sacrificial loss , with insurance , . hidden deep in-front of all .