Items that would be difficult or impossible to replace, like your personal papers or inherited jewellery, can be handed in for safekeeping to your bank for a small fee.
You will also get a cheaper insurance rate on your most coveted items if you keep them at your bank.
Not all banks offer a safekeeping facility. A spokesperson for Absa says only Volkskas Bank and Trust Bank offer safety deposit boxes while a spokesperson for First National Bank says full branches offer either a safe deposit locker (rather like a post box) or a deed box (where the bank brings the box to you).
The costs of safekeeping vary. First National Bank quotes between R66 and R275 a year for a deed box, depending on its size, and R110 to R250 a year for a safe deposit locker.
Absa's charges are slightly lower, ranging from about R45,50 to R220,70 a year depending on the size of the box. Its spokesperson added that Absa increases its charges each year in line with inflation.
These are just two examples - you should ask your own bank what charges it levies.
If you stop paying rental on the box, the banks will wait a year or two and even then will not sell the contents of your box until they have been through some lengthy procedures. First National Bank sends a registered letter to the owner of the box if rental has not been paid for five years or more, notifying the owner that the bank's officials will open the package within 30 days.
A will or life insurance policy could provide a clue to tracing the owner. If the items are valuable, and all efforts to trace the owner have failed, the bank has to obtain disposal instructions from its senior management.
There are usually two keys to a safety deposit or deed box, one of which is held by the bank under strict security, and the other held by you. You can give another person access to your box by giving him or her authorisation in writing and handing them your key.
The banks emphasise that they do not insure the contents of safety deposit boxes. They do not verify what you put in your box and do not request valuation certificates. So you would be well advised to insure items of value yourself.
A spokesperson for insurance brokers First Bowring says insurance on an item held in safekeeping at a bank is substantially cheaper than if you included it on your all-risks policy. For example, First Central, a new insurer, is quoting 0,3 percent of the value a year as the premium for insuring an item in bank safekeeping. This is a premium of R3 a year for an item worth R1 000. The premium on the same item insured under an all-risks policy would be about ten times higher.
You may ask your bank to keep items that you wish to take out every now and then, such as a special piece of jewellery which you wear on an anniversary. If you are insuring the item under the special rate, you should notify your insurance company that you will be removing the item, and it will insure it at the all-risks rate for that period.
First Bowring says it does warn clients to state if they have items in safekeeping at the bank so that these can be added to the value of your household contents. If you do not, and you have a claim, any insurance payment you receive will be reduced because you will be regarded as underinsured.