# Do banks normally keep a backup key to your safe deposit box? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 2, 2025, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-banks-normally-keep-a-backup-key-to-your-safe-deposit-box/1012477 "2025-01-02T11:32:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-banks-normally-keep-a-backup-key-to-your-safe-deposit-box/1012477/1 "2025-01-02T11:32:18Z")
Bit of a scandal in Japan: > **[Japan's largest bank apologizes over theft of millions of dollars from safe...](https://apnews.com/article/japan-bank-deposit-box-theft-253a554e7137918a92cf8ee6ca408338)** > > Japan’s biggest bank has apologized after an employee allegedly stole more than 1 billion yen ($6.6 million) from customers' safe deposit boxes. **Short version:** the bank had backup keys to customer’s safe deposit boxes. A bank employee used those backup keys to gain unauthorized access to those safety deposit boxes and steal from customers. I don’t have a safe deposit box, but my understanding is that when you go to a bank to access one, you bring your key, the bank meets you with their key, and you work together to unlock your box. Supposedly this is to assure that you, and _only_ you, can access your box. Surely customers must lose their key now and then. So what do banks do under these circumstances? Is it an industry norm for the bank to keep a backup of your key (presumably with tighter access control than MUFG)? Or is your key unique in the universe, and if lost, the bank has to hire a locksmith to get into your box? ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-banks-normally-keep-a-backup-key-to-your-safe-deposit-box/1012477/2 "2025-01-02T12:53:55Z")
As far as I am aware of safety deposit boxes here in Canada, all the banks use a 2 lock system. When you get your box you are given 2 identical keys for one of the locks. The bank hold the keys for the other lock. Both keys must be used to open the box. If a customer loses both of their keys, a locksmith is brought in to drill the customer lock and it is charged back to the customer. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-banks-normally-keep-a-backup-key-to-your-safe-deposit-box/1012477/3 "2025-01-02T13:02:33Z")
As FinsToTheLeft said, if you lose your key, they have to drill it out. I’ve never had a box either, and was also under the impression that the customer had one key and the bank had the other. In either case, the bank having copy of your key(s) would, IMO, partially defeat the purpose of the whole safety deposit box system. Yes, it still means whatever you’re keeping in there isn’t in your house, but the bank shouldn’t have the ability to open it without you present. > [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Or is your key unique in the universe, and if lost, the bank has to hire a locksmith to get into your box? If you look at your bank’s fee schedule, you’ll probably even see what they charge to do that. USBank, for example, charges $150 for lock drilling. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-banks-normally-keep-a-backup-key-to-your-safe-deposit-box/1012477/4 "2025-01-02T15:01:17Z")
Yes, drilling locks is a lot cheaper (and a revenue genarator) verses tracking hundreds of keys. And of course the saftey aspect of not having employee’s pilfer through boxes, imagine customers claiming that someone pocketed some random gold coin or diamond from their box. The legal cost would be huge because people would be making false claims all the time. Not sure what the banking laws are in Japan, but its a stupid move on their part. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-banks-normally-keep-a-backup-key-to-your-safe-deposit-box/1012477/5 "2025-01-02T15:06:30Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > verses tracking hundreds of keys Car rental companies, who have had decades to think of a better solution, make their customers carry two keys so they don’t have to keep track of them when it comes time to sell. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-banks-normally-keep-a-backup-key-to-your-safe-deposit-box/1012477/6 "2025-01-02T15:09:59Z")
That’s what allows you to return it to a different location. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-banks-normally-keep-a-backup-key-to-your-safe-deposit-box/1012477/7 "2025-01-02T15:18:21Z")
Sure, I know why they do it but inconvenience to dozens/scores/hundreds of customers grinds my gears. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-banks-normally-keep-a-backup-key-to-your-safe-deposit-box/1012477/8 "2025-01-02T15:25:41Z")
I’ve had a safe deposit box, and was told that the keys they gave me were the only ones that could open the box. The procedure to get into the box was: Bring the key to the bank, present ID. You sign your box’s access card and they stamp it with the date/time. They bring you into the vault, the bank employee uses the bank’s key on one lock, then you use your key on the second lock. They take out the box, you bring it to a private room and do whatever you need to. They put the box back in, you lock with your key, they lock with their key. There were definitely several open slots where the locks had been drilled out, rendering them unusable. I presume there wasn’t enough demand to make it cost effective to replace the doors on those slots, if that’s even possible. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-banks-normally-keep-a-backup-key-to-your-safe-deposit-box/1012477/9 "2025-01-02T15:47:21Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Yes, drilling locks is a lot cheaper (and a revenue genarator) verses tracking hundreds of keys. I assumed this was how it was done. It’s a practical solution. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-banks-normally-keep-a-backup-key-to-your-safe-deposit-box/1012477/10 "2025-01-02T15:49:24Z")
It wouldn’t bother me one bit if they weren’t permanently attached and I could do what I do with my own car keys- which is I carry one and my husband carries the other. Also what we do with the safe deposit keys - we have one and our daughter has the other ( her name is on the box as well). They aren’t kept together so we won’t lose both. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-banks-normally-keep-a-backup-key-to-your-safe-deposit-box/1012477/11 "2025-01-02T15:58:33Z")
I’ve never had a safety deposit box, but I have used hotel safety boxes. This was back in the days before it was common for hotels to have safes in the rooms; if you had valuables or, in my case, cash that you wanted locked up you asked for access to a lockbox at the front desk. You were taken to an office which had a bank of maybe a dozen or two boxes; you got a single key which, along with a master key, opened one of the boxes. I remember being told that if I lost the key I would have to pay to have the lock drilled/replaced. Once I almost forgot to empty the box when I checked out. Fortunately I remembered before I actually left the hotel a few hours later. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-banks-normally-keep-a-backup-key-to-your-safe-deposit-box/1012477/12 "2025-01-02T16:13:52Z")
This is also what banks do. I have two keys to my box, and they don’t have a copy. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-banks-normally-keep-a-backup-key-to-your-safe-deposit-box/1012477/13 "2025-01-02T16:23:02Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > wouldn’t bother me one bit if they weren’t permanently attached and I could do what I do with my own car keys Yes, that’s the shittiness of it. “And here’s your half pound fistful of problem. They can’t fit in your pocket but don’t lose them!” I’ve heard of heroes clipping them right there at the counter, ‘take care of that for me, chief,’ as they leave the extra, toss their scarf over their shoulder and flash a victory V to the applauding crowd. > [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > I have two keys to my box, and they don’t have a copy. The rental car fobs are tied together with steel wire rope, completely and totally negating any benefit of having two keys at all. All the hassle, none of the upside. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-banks-normally-keep-a-backup-key-to-your-safe-deposit-box/1012477/14 "2025-01-02T17:36:03Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > Car rental companies, who have had decades to think of a better solution, make their customers carry two keys so they don’t have to keep track of them when it comes time to sell. Haven’t seen this since the advent of keyless entry and ignition, at least at Avis. I’ve never been given two fobs at the time of rental. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-banks-normally-keep-a-backup-key-to-your-safe-deposit-box/1012477/15 "2025-01-02T18:28:42Z")
I have a safe deposit box and the procedure described above by muldoonthief is what I have experienced. Both your key and the bank’s key are required to open the box, and the bank has no way to access the box without your key. At least, that’s what they say and intend; obviously if a bank employee secretly duplicates a key somehow, that condition is violated. My father-in-law also had a safe deposit box, and lost the key, so we had to have the lock drilled. The bank arranged for a locksmith to meet us at the bank and he drilled the lock in our presence (presumably to ensure that we couldn’t later claim that something had been removed from the box after the lock had been drilled). He used a contraption that magnetically (I think) attached to the face of the box door and held a drill in position while he operated the drill. Only the lock cylinder was damaged, not the door itself, so the bank could at some future time just replace the lock and the box would be usable again. As I recall, the cost (paid to the locksmith) was about $200. My FIL didn’t remember what was in the box, and unfortunately there was nothing of value; just some replaceable papers, so the cost of drilling it was just a waste of money. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-banks-normally-keep-a-backup-key-to-your-safe-deposit-box/1012477/16 "2025-01-02T18:45:28Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > He used a contraption that magnetically (I think) attached to the face of the box door and held a drill in position while he operated the drill. That’s a mag drill. [![](https://www.creworksequipment.com/cdn/shop/files/Portable-1200W-Mag-Drill-Machine-0.9-Bore-Diameter_512x512.jpg?v=1690193438) ](https://www.creworksequipment.com/cdn/shop/files/Portable-1200W-Mag-Drill-Machine-0.9-Bore-Diameter_512x512.jpg?v=1690193438) ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2025, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-banks-normally-keep-a-backup-key-to-your-safe-deposit-box/1012477/17 "2025-01-03T04:05:37Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > They aren’t kept together so we won’t lose both. If you lose one key, you will eventually have to pay the locksmith fèe. When you cancel the safe deposit box, you have to return both keys. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2025, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-banks-normally-keep-a-backup-key-to-your-safe-deposit-box/1012477/18 "2025-01-03T04:10:26Z")
No they can copy the one key you have. There will be a charge, but typically less than a drilling fee at least at my bank. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2025, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-banks-normally-keep-a-backup-key-to-your-safe-deposit-box/1012477/19 "2025-01-03T04:34:35Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > There will be a charge, but typically less than a drilling fee at least at my bank. After both my parents passed away, I never could find the second key to one of their safe deposit boxes (they had three). The credit union charged me (well, the estate) $125 for the lost key. The drilling fee was, as I recall, $200. ---
**Author:** ![Newtosite](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/newtosite/32/8623_2.png) [@Newtosite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Newtosite)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2025, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-banks-normally-keep-a-backup-key-to-your-safe-deposit-box/1012477/20 "2025-01-03T09:17:13Z")
Signing an access card is obsolete at some banks. They just note it electronically on your account. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-banks-normally-keep-a-backup-key-to-your-safe-deposit-box/1012477.md?page=2)