 "Are your valuables really safe in your bank locker?")
Do bank lockers offer ultimate safety for your gold jewellery, silver ornaments, important financial papers such as your house title deed, will and the like? If you though they do, think again. Here’s why.
**Picture this:**One fine morning, you get a call from your banker stating that your bank locker, where all your valuables were stacked away, was found open. Before recovering from the shock, you rush to the bank to find that, as you feared, you have lost everything. Imagine, on top of the loss you suffer, the bank blames you for the robbery. The scary part is that this is not a story. It really happened and is cited by the Reserve Bank of India.
This particular customer had actually found Rs 23 lakh worth of his valuables missing from the locker. The bank held that he had not shut the locker properly and hence they were not responsible for the missing items.The customer approached the banking ombudsman which resolved the issued his favour.
[caption id=“attachment_1100869” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A staff member works inside the safety deposit locker room at a bank branch in Mumbai. Reuters[/caption]
“Banking Ombudsman (BO) observed that the bank was deficient in service as it had neither checked whether the locker was closed before the customer left nor checked it at the end of the day as stipulated in their Manual of Operations. Had this been done, the complainant would not have lost the articles. As regards computation of direct loss caused, since the contents lost or its value could not be ascertained, the figure indicated by the locker holder was taken as loss. Since this amount was more than the ceiling of Rs 10,00,000 up to which the BO is empowered to pay compensation, BO advised both the parties to settle the matter within this limit,” says the RBI document. Both parties agreed to settle the matter for Rs 10 lakh. The customer suffered Rs 13 lakh compensation for the bank’s irresponsible functioning.
What you learn:In the future when you operate your locker, double check if you have closed the locker properly or not. On your way out, may be you should inform the official at the bank that the locker is closed and also ask him to check whether the locker is closed. If the banker agrees to do so or not is a different thing, but no harm in asking from your side. Keep in mind that technically the bank is not responsible for the contents of the locker as the customer need not share them with the bank. What this also means is that your locker cannot be insured. Also keep in mind that in case of theft or natural calamities if valuables in your bank locker go missing or get damaged, technically the bank cannot be held responsible. So, all you can really do is ensure you close the locker after operating. If possible avoid a locker which is closer to the floor as during natural calamities like floods such lockers were reported to the most affected. It takes a little bit of effort from your side to ensure your valuables are really safe.
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