2.17.2012

Run on safe deposit boxes

It might be a good idea to get yourself a safe deposit box while they are still available.  Some countries are running out of them.

This from a Guardian story on gold burglaries from Indian homes in London:
[...] banks have started to stop giving people safe deposit boxes, so people are keeping their gold at home.
And David Malone notes that the Swiss are running out of safe deposit boxes:
…if you want a bank box in Zurich today, they will require that you have a minum of half a million swiss francs on deposit in the bank, before they will even consider you. That is how short of space they are.
You might be able to get a free safe deposit box from your bank or credit union depending on the size of your account. Even if you have to pay for one, smaller boxes can be had for $25 - $50 a year, larger boxes around $100.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_01/seymour062001.html

Please re-read item #20 before you waste money on a "safe" deposit box.

W.C. Varones said...

Anon,

Confiscation is a concern.

However, when FDR ordered gold confiscated, he didn't actually search, seize, or freeze safe deposit boxes

W.C. Varones said...

Not that it couldn't happen.

Hopefully, we'd have enough warning to clear out safe deposit boxes before it happened.

The best place to store gold is out of the country, in a peaceful and non-indebted stable democracy. That way if the SHTF here, you can get out.

However, that's a lot more expense and effort than most beginning gold collectors may be able to put in.

Anonymous said...

Interestingly, I have never considered the safe deposit box examination to be about gold. Rather, I expect it was a measure to prevent people from holding cash in a box - where it doesn't help the bank - and instead putting it in a bank account so that the bank can use it for their corporate purposes.

Considering the banking situation at the time, I have no difficulty in believing that safe deposit boxes were subject to some sort of examination, internet apocrypha to the contrary. The issue merits further investigation.

Shane Atwell said...

I was on a waiting list for a safe deposit box here in SD for 6 months with SDCCU before getting a call that 2 had opened up. By the time I showed up at the bank, one had already been taken by a bank employee. Got the other.

Not that I trust it'll be left alone by the bank in a crisis. However, I don't believe there will be confiscation by the feds (perhaps by California). I think it more likely that the sale of gold etc. will simply be taxed into oblivion.

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