During the Roosevelt Administration bank safe deposit boxes were searched without the consent of the owner and any gold was seized without the slightest shred of due process.
If I had any, and I'm not saying I do or don't mind you, I'd rather have it in the fire resistant safe that's bolted to my floor in my home than in any bank.
What do I care if it melts? It's still gold or silver.
Theft? They're going to have to bring in a crane, rip out a couple of walls, and then pull up a substantial piece of concrete slab.
Gun to my head? Possible I suppose. Not very probable. And the outcome wouldn't be what the thieves were counting on. They'd need to get past the Neighborhood Watch, some alarms, a couple of dogs, and a video surveillance system to pull it off.
There are softer targets right up the street.
I ain't Ft. Knox, but anybody f****** with me has a way better than even chance of ending very dead very rapidly.
Thanks for the reply.
I guess a good spot and a couple dogs for an early warning system would trump the box; that is for anyone that has any to worry about.
We don't have to harken back to the one-time FDR confiscation or even an individual's death -- banks have come up with a new method of safe deposit theft that they spring on regular folks on a regular basis:
San Francisco resident Carla Ruff’s safe-deposit box was drilled, seized, and turned over to the state of California, marked “owner unknown.”
“I was appalled,” Ruff said. “I felt violated.”
Unknown? Carla’s name was right on documents in the box at the Noe Valley Bank of America location. So was her address — a house about six blocks from the bank. Carla had a checking account at the bank, too — still does — and receives regular statements. Plus, she has receipts showing she’s the kind of person who paid her box rental fee. And yet, she says nobody ever notified her.
“They are zealously uncovering accounts that are not unclaimed,” Ruff said.
Her great-grandmother’s precious natural pearls and other jewelry had been auctioned off. They were sold for just $1,800, even though they were appraised for $82,500.
California law used to say property was unclaimed if the rightful owner had had no contact with the business for 15 years. But during various state budget crises, the waiting period was reduced to seven years, and then five, and then three. Legislators even tried for one year. Why? Because the state wanted to use that free money.
California became so addicted to spending people’s money, that, for years, it simply stopped sending notices to the rightful owners. ABC News obtained a 1996 internal memo in which the lawyer for the Bureau of Unclaimed Property argued against expanding programs to notify rightful owners. He wrote, “It could well result in additional claims of monies that would otherwise flow into the general fund.”