How much does it cost to keep something in a bank vault? And how does it work, please?

[Fauve]

Any experience very welcome! I don't want to spell out the specifics of why I need to know - would you mind if I keep schtumm on that for now?

Iirc, you 'rent' a lockbox by the month/year. Rental fees vary according to size of box you need and length of time required. No idea what they cost now, as haven't used one in over 10 years.

Thanks, Earlybird. I wonder if all banks do them - eg Natwest, Barclays, etc?

I wonder if one of these new-fangled storage places might work? Worth investigating, perhaps?

it was maybe £10 a year then £5 a time for access when i worked for a bank 5 years ago. you had to provide your own box/case/whatever. you don't have to say what's in it but you did have to have an account there and satisf ID and money laundering checks.

The Natwest has two methods - you can keep items in a locked box (the bank don't need to know what is in it) or you can give them papers, deeds, share certificates etc for safe keeping. These are kept 'open' so the bank know what you have stored.

If you go for the locked box option you ususally have to provide the box yourself and there's a charge depending on the size.

HTH

Thanks, Saggars, that really does help. And thanks, Ruddynorah - £10 is NOTHING it seems to me. Llareggub, Dh is for some reason dubious about Big Yellow places etc - I think he sees them as expensive and not particularly secure. At least a bank is secure!