Do not keep items requiring immediate, after-hours access (passports, medical directives, durable power of attorney), original wills, large amounts of cash, or illegal/hazardous materials in a safe deposit box. These boxes lack FDIC insurance, are inaccessible on weekends/holidays, and require prompt, emergency retrieval for critical estate planning documents.
You'll also want to leave out any items that are uninsured or perishable in nature.
Illegal or restricted items
Certain items—such as firearms, explosives, or illicit substances—may violate bank policies or legal regulations if stored in a safe deposit box, says McGuinn.
You have no reason to carry it on you regularly. The only time you'll need it is if you're starting a new job or getting a license or something like that where you need multiple forms of ID. Otherwise you keep it at home in your safe, or your lock box, or in your desk drawer or in your filing cabinet.
Think about what should or should not be kept in a bank's safe deposit box. Good candidates for a safe deposit box include originals of key documents, such as birth certificates, property deeds, car titles and U.S. Savings Bonds that haven't been converted into electronic securities.
Yes, you should take steps to "lock" or protect your Social Security Number (SSN) by using free services like credit freezes and SSN locks (like E-Verify Self Lock), and by being cautious about sharing it, as this significantly helps prevent employment fraud, tax scams, and unauthorized access to accounts. While no single lock stops all identity theft, combining freezes, locks, monitoring your accounts, and limiting SSN disclosure offers strong defense against fraudsters using your SSN for loans, jobs, or benefits.
Social Security cards
Keep your social security card locked up in a safe at home. Don't carry it around with you in your wallet, as that's an easy way to have it, and your identity, stolen.
Yes, the IRS can seize the contents of a safe deposit box to satisfy a tax debt, but they must follow strict legal procedures, usually involving serving a notice of levy on the bank and obtaining a court order (Writ of Entry) to force entry if you refuse to cooperate, as they need a court order for seizure unless you consent to opening it.
Depositing $2,000 in cash isn't inherently suspicious and is well below the $10,000 reporting threshold for banks, but it can raise flags if it's part of a pattern (structuring), inconsistent with your normal income, or involves other red flags like frequent large cash deposits from others, leading to a potential Suspicious Activity Report (SAR). To avoid issues, have clear records for the cash's source, like invoices or sales receipts, especially if you deal in cash often.
Banks don't know what's inside safe deposit boxes, and they don't insure the contents of safe deposit boxes or reimburse owners if contents are destroyed.
Disadvantages of safe deposit boxes include limited access (only during bank hours), lack of bank/FDIC insurance (requiring separate insurance), potential legal/probate delays after death, recurring rental fees, and the risk of losing the key, which leads to costly drilling. Contents aren't immune to disaster (fire, flood) or government seizure, and size limitations restrict what you can store.
Bank robbers typically don't target safe deposit boxes.
When you break down the numbers, that's about 4,000 bank robberies per year and only about 8 or 9 involve safe deposit boxes. In contrast, there are nearly home burglaries each year.
There's no cost to place or lift a credit freeze, and it doesn't affect your credit score. You don't have to wait for your Social Security number or other information to be exposed in a data breach or misused by an identity thief to get a credit freeze.
You're better off keeping the following items out of your safe deposit box:
Most of us don't protect our birth certificates in the same way that we look after our passport or Social Security card. But scammers can use stolen birth certificates to obtain other forms of ID, open bank accounts in your name, or apply for fraudulent benefits.
The government may seize not only the account funds of a tax debtor held by a financial institution, but also the contents of a safe deposit box maintained at the bank.
Your best bet is to store it at a bank or credit union. Most of these financial institutions are FDIC- or NCUA-insured. In case the bank or credit union goes belly up, your money is safe up to the insured amount. A high-yield savings account offers a higher rate for your cash, and so do money market accounts.
Alternatives to safe deposit boxes include personal home safes, digital storage options, and attorney offices for legal documents, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.