I went in to the branch to access my safe deposit box. After telling me that I had no box, we sorted out that they had made a mistake about deducting my annual fees and closed my account. The next thing they said was that there was no such box. I convinced them that there was such a box, and we went into the vault and the previous location of my box was now an aisle-way. It turns out that they remodeled the vault, and they could not find my box. After nine months of run-around, the branch manager said that I should fill out a claim form with a statement of the contents. I told her that I did not want to file a claim but rather wanted the contents of my box. About one week later they finally found the box. I promptly closed my safe deposit box account. I did some research and learned that this type of thing happens surprisingly frequently, and there are many lawyers out there that will assist you in bringing a law suit against a bank who has lost your safe deposit box. Bottom line: If you place something in a bank safe deposit box then you may never see it again. Safe deposit boxes are a reasonable solution in some situations but not without risk.