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A recent case of Wells Fargo mishandling the contents of a customer's safe deposit box, resulting in an estimated $10m of lost items, highlights the risks of not-so-safe safe deposit boxes. A combination of mismanagement and the 10% decrease in the number of bank branches of the U.S. has resulted in many safe deposit boxes being relocated, removed, and misplaced, but without proper regulation and oversight in place most banks are unlikely to pay more attention to this problem.
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. No regulator formally tallies customer losses in safe deposit boxes. [Jerry Pluard, the president of Safe Deposit Box Insurance Coverage], who tracks legal filings and news reports, estimates that around 33,000 boxes a year are harmed by accidents, natural disasters and thefts. He often gets phone calls from people who are fighting their bank for compensation. “I tell them it’s hard, almost impossible,” he said. “What drives banks’ conduct is regulatory oversight, and none of the regulators pay any attention to safe deposit boxes. This just falls through the cracks. If the banks do something inappropriate, it’s very hard for customers to get any sort of relief.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/business/safe-deposit-box-theft.html
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