On Your Side: Insuring your bank safe deposit box
A bank mystery: A Pasadena man's safe deposit box disappears, along with all his jewelry and family heirlooms.
Chase Bank says it has no idea how this happened or where the box went, but that it's working with the customer to identify the missing inventory in his box. But he says most of the items can't be replaced.
Soon after Kevin Wang and his wife welcomed their first child, he went to his bank to put some of the gifts they received from family into their safe deposit box.
"I do have family members in Asia and the way they, more of a family tradition, they give us precious metals, so gold, silver," said Wang.
The box only opens with two keys -- one that he has, and the other that the branch manager keeps.
"Then the first question she asked me was 'Where is the box?' And initially I totally thought she was joking, until I saw how far her arm was going in," said Wang.
The box was missing, along with all its contents, including family heirlooms dating back to his great-grandparents.
"There were items that were gifted to me when I was born," said Wang. "Those are the only things that I really have from that generation of my family."
Wang filed a police report and a complaint with Chase Bank. The bank responded with a letter saying it "Did not find evidence that the safe deposit box was improperly opened or its contents removed."
The bank went on to confirm what Kevin Wang already knew: the box could only be opened with the two keys, or if the lock was drilled -- which it was not.
"It's really just mind-boggling how something like this could happen," said Wang.
"The opportunity of a box going missing in that situation are very rare," said David McGuinn, a safe deposit box expert. "In the 50 years I have been in this business, I have heard of it happening one other time."
McGuinn says a safe deposit box is still one of the safest places you can keep your valuables. But consumers shouldn't just lock it and leave it. He recommends having a good insurance policy, either through your homeowner's insurance...
"There is another company out there that specifically writes insurance on nothing but safe deposit box contents. You don't have to disclose what's in there," said McGuinn.
Otherwise...
"The bank doesn't insure it, the FDIC doesn't insure it, the NCUA doesn't insure it for credit unions," said McGuinn. "There is no insurance on contents in a safe deposit box, other than what the consumer puts on it."
Chase is actually in the process of phasing out its safe deposit box service, calling it a business decision. Existing customers who have a box can keep them, but they aren't offering them to new customers.
