Where and how to open a bank safe? What can we put in it? How much does a secure secret hideout cost? Find here all the answers to your questions about these safes, far from preconceived ideas and film scenarios.
You don’t have to be rich to have a safe at the bank. Accessible for a hundred euros per year, these chests allow you to store (almost) whatever you want. Are you afraid of experiencing a burglary or fire and want to protect your most precious possessions? A Van Gogh, important papers, letters from your grandparents, gold bars… The safe is an option to consider.
Where and how much to rent a safe?
You must know that not all banks offer safe service, the image of Crdit Coopratif or La Banque Postale. For those who offer them, the prices vary depending on the establishment, the size of the safe and of course the guarantee subscribed.
The value of what you place in a chest is guaranteed by the bank. In the event of a disaster, break-in, flood or fire at the location of the safes, it will therefore be obliged to compensate you for the amount of this guarantee. It is up to the tenant to demonstrate what he claims to have lost through photos, testimonials or invoices.
Attention. The guarantee is stipulated in the contract you sign. If the value of the items contained exceeds the amount entered, the bank will not compensate you beyond the guaranteed amount in the contract.
At LCLrental of a safe rating at least 158 euros per year and 26.50 euros per month if it is a temporary rental. At BNP Paribas, you will need a minimum of 130 euros per year for a value of the contents of the safe limited to 30,500 euros and a size of less than 36 cubic decimeters (dm3).
In most establishments, the guarantee is fixed according to the size of the safe, generally around 30,000 euros but can go up to a million euros. You will have understood, the greater the size and the guarantee, the more the price increases. Always at BNP Paribas, the rental of a very large compartment (131,200 dm3) with an insured value of 1.5 million euros will cost 1582 euros per year. Customers can access details of the rates charged in the banks’ rate schedules.
Bank charges, payment in several installments, credit redemption… Banks point the finger
The most rented safes (4/5th of rentals) are the small compartments of less than 36 dm3, however, assures BNP Paribas. Just like at LCL, half of the rental boxes correspond to so-called standard formats, i.e. 31.25 dm3. These two banks each hold approximately 100,000 safes this day.
The most rented chests are the small compartments
What can we put in it?
Just like the rates and sizes of safes, each bank sets its conditions regarding permitted content. Quite naturally, the dangerous, explosive or flammable products are strictly prohibited, as are illicit products. The Socit Générale also specifies in the rental conditions that the tenant undertakes not to deposit any bad-smelling objects and any materials or foodstuffs likely to deteriorate or spread parasites or any support, of any nature whatsoever, used for store computer data.
When you open your safe, you sign a contract. Through this contract, the bank’s customer undertakes to respect the conditions of access as well as the conditions relating to the contents of the safe compartment, specifies BNP. If the bank does not know the contents of your safe, it can carry out checks. This is particularly the case at LCL which reserves the right, as a security measure, to be presented with the contents of the objects that the tenant or his agent wishes to deposit, or has previously deposited in the safe.
Who can access your safe?
The tenant and his possible agent. But having the key in hand is not enough. The banker has the obligation to verify that the person accessing the safe is indeed the tenant or that he or she benefits from a power of attorney. Before each access, the bank has a visit form signed, including the date, time and marital status, in order to release its civil liability in the event of an incident. Moreover, the bank cannot access your safe in your absence or that of your potential representative.
Finally, your bank has the obligation, since 2020, to declare the opening, modification or closing of safes. Rest assured however, only the location and identity of the tenant of the safe are declared, and not the contents of the safe.
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