Topic: Safety Deposit Boxes
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A safe deposit box customer wants to close her account, but has lost both of her keys and has repeatedly missed the date we scheduled to drill her box. Can we drill the box without her here?
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If the account is current, then you should obtain written authorization before drilling the box without the customer present, in which case we would strongly advise having at least two bank employees present and video recording the drilling of the box and the immediate appearance of the contents of the box. If the safe deposit…
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My department is responsible for reporting safe-deposit box contents to the Illinois Treasurer. Is there anything new in the new Illinois Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act for reporting property in safe-deposit boxes?
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The new Illinois Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (Illinois RUUPA) adds reporting obligations regarding safe-deposit box property and modifies the process of obtaining reimbursements of safe-deposit box opening expenses and unpaid rent. The Illinois RUUPA’s reporting obligations include new details on the “location of the property” held in a safe-deposit box, as well as “where…
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We have a safe deposit box that is dormant, but is not yet presumed abandoned. We drilled the box due to the unpaid rental fees and found that it contains a gun. Could we immediately send in the gun for the State Treasurer to handle?
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Yes, you may immediately report the gun and remit it to the State Treasurer, even though the presumed abandonment period for the safe deposit box has not yet passed. The current Illinois unclaimed property law permits a property holder to submit early reports for “property which he has reason to believe will be reportable in…
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We recently inspected the safe deposit boxes of an institution that our bank recently purchased. One box was listed under the bank’s records under the bank’s name, and it contains what apparently are “found” items, including an item of jewelry and bullion. None of the former institution’s employees can tell us where these items came from, or even where or when they were “found.” If we cannot determine the source or ownership of these items, what should we do with them?
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In light of the very limited information available, we recommend reporting these items as unclaimed property to the State Treasurer. You also may wish to contact the State Treasurer for some further direction before submitting a report on these items, as your bank will be unable to provide most of the required information (such as…
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The mother of one of our safety deposit box customers contacted us. She said that her son had to travel out of state for health reasons and cannot return. She wants to empty the safety deposit boxes. Our procedures require that the customer appear in person before we could add his mother as a signer on the box. The mother would like to present a notarized letter from the customer permitting her to empty out the boxes. Should we accept a notarized letter?
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No, we do not recommend relying on a notarized letter. If your customer’s mother wishes to exercise control over her son’s safety deposit box, the bank could rely on a power of attorney or court order providing her with that authority. For example, the Illinois Statutory Short Form Power of Attorney for Property provides the…
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Before reporting the contents of a safe deposit box to the State Treasurer as abandoned, we send the accountholder a notice. Does that notice have to be sent by certified mail?
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No, certified mail is not required, unless your account agreement includes such a requirement. However, depending on the timing of your notice, you may be required to use first class mail. The Uniform Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act (Act) requires banks to attempt to notify customers before reporting property as abandoned, but it does not…
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A safe deposit box customer recently died. His sister is executor of his estate. She has asked us for the date on which the customer added a joint owner to the box (his fiancée). There seem to be bad feelings between the sister and the deceased customer’s fiancée. Can we provide that information? Our safe deposit account agreement treats boxes with multiple lessees as joint tenancies with rights of survivorship, so we took the position that we could not provide this information because the fiancée now is the sole lessee on the box.
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We believe that you may provide the requested information to your customer’s executor, since she is requesting information about an event that occurred before his death. The executor would not have any right to information about the safe deposit box account after the date of death. The federal privacy regulations permit banks to disclose account…
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Two years ago, we reported an abandoned safe deposit box to the State Treasurer. Recently, the Treasurer requested that we send the contents ($26,000 in currency) in a cashier’s check. If we comply, do we need to file a currency transaction report (CTR)? FinCEN informed us that we should file a CTR, listing the customer as the “Person on whose behalf transaction was conducted.”
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We agree that your bank should file a CTR, since issuing a cashier’s check constitutes a currency transaction between the bank and your customer, and it involves more than $10,000. There are several exemptions to the CTR filing requirements, including an exemption for currency transactions between banks and state agencies. However, there is no currency…
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We have a customer who passed away. An individual has called us several times wanting information about this customer’s safe deposit box. Can we tell her that the customer did not have safe deposit box account at our bank? This individual did not produce any documentation establishing herself as the executor of this customer’s estate.
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We do not recommend disclosing to this individual that the customer did not have a safe deposit box account at your bank. Regulation P’s privacy requirements prohibit your bank from disclosing “the fact that an individual is or has been one of your customers or has obtained a financial product or service from you.” In…
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We are contemplating closing a branch that has rented safe deposit boxes. We plan to notify safe deposit box customers that we are closing the branch, and that they can transfer their safe deposit box accounts to a new location. Customers who wish to do so will remove their safe deposit box contents themselves. For customers who do not respond to our notice, we plan to drill the boxes, remove and inventory the contents, and then hold the contents in the vault of another branch. Our attorney has suggested that we video record the box openings, in addition to having two employees present, in order to defend against any claims that items are missing. Do you have any additional guidance on how we should handle safe deposit boxes for customers who do not respond to our notice?
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We agree that you should guard against potential claims that items are missing if you open any safe deposit boxes and transfer their contents without customer approval, and we think your bank counsel is providing you with sound advice in this regard. We do recommend that you review your safe deposit box agreement to determine…