Safe Deposit Boxes Aren't Safe

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/business/safe-deposit-box-theft.html

Safe Deposit Boxes Aren’t Safe
When Philip Poniz opened Box 105 at his local Wells Fargo, he discovered it was empty — and that he was totally unprotected by federal law.
By Stacy Cowley
July 19, 2019


There are an estimated 25 million safe deposit boxes in America, and few protections for customers. No federal laws govern the boxes; no rules require banks to compensate customers if their property is stolen or destroyed. Getty Images

In the early 1980s, when Philip Poniz moved to New Jersey from Colorado, he needed a well-protected place to stash his collection of rare watches. He had been gathering unusual pieces since he was a teenager in 1960s Poland, fascinated by their intricate mechanics. His hobby became his profession, and by the time of his relocation, Mr. Poniz was an internationally known expert in the history and restoration of high-end timepieces.

At first, he kept his personal collection in his house, but as it grew, he wanted something more secure. The vault at his neighborhood bank seemed ideal. In 1983, he signed a one-page lease agreement with First National State Bank of Edison in Highland Park, N.J., for a safe deposit box.

Over the next few decades, the bank — a squat brick building on a low-rise suburban street — changed hands many times. First National became First Union, which was sold to Wachovia, which was then bought by Wells Fargo. But its vault remained the same. A foot-thick steel door sheltered cabinets filled with hundreds of stacked metal boxes, each protected by two keys. The bank kept one; the customer held the other. Both were required to open a box.

In 1998, Mr. Poniz rented several additional boxes, and stored in them various items related to his work. He separated a batch of personal effects — photographs, coins he had inherited from his grandfather, dozens of watches — into a box labeled 105. Every time he opened it, he saw the glinting accumulation of his life’s work.

Then, on April 7, 2014, he lifted the thin metal lid. Box 105 was empty.

[Firestorm49]

1. Phooey! His wife took the stuff before the divorce. (a joke, of course)

[Fullduplexxx]

3. And this could be fraud

[Fullduplexxx]

2. Sounds like false advertising and an argument about what safe means

[Hekate]

4. Horrifying. I recall that bank consolidation of boxes was one reason I left my bank...

It was sold and resold, personal service deteriorated, all the old faces were gone and the new ones were kids in polo shirts with the bank logo. That uniform said "Taco Bell" more than "bank teller," loud and clear.

The final straw was when I went to access my safe deposit box and found there were two of the same number because the bank had absorbed the boxes of another bank.

[cbdo2007]

5. So...he signed an agreement with them stating they have no liability if things are stolen?

That was dumb. I mean I hate to side with the company here but the box changed bank hands MULTIPLE times and did he keep signing forms saying they had no responsibility if things are missing? Those would probably be my first questions when renting something like this.

Sorry, hope he was insured and can file a police report at least. Maybe there were other people at the bank that had things stolen too and they can find who did it.

If you are going to keep things in a safe deposit box, make sure you catalog and document it all with photographs as much as you can.

[Hekate]

6. I don't recall signing any such agreement for my safe deposit boxes over the decades...

I only bank where my savings account and other deposits are FDIC insured. Maybe that has given me a false sense of security regarding their other services, like those rows of metal boxes where we keep our passports and other papers, and where I put my jewelry when I leave town.

What happened to this man is outrageous. A thorough police investigation into bank employees who have access to the vault and the keys would eventually turn something up. Time frame: the last time he looked and all was there, to the present. Every employee who ever countersigned for him. Master keys, but since it takes two keys to open, did anyone ever have the bright idea that maybe the bank should keep copies of the customers' keys? And that's just the start.