Safety Deposit Box Rental -- Chiang Mai

[Pilita]

Does anyone knows if a bank will rent a safety deposit box to someone that doesn't have an account with the bank?

I will be in CM for about 5-6 months and I would like to rent a safety deposit box. Someone mentioned the Montri Hotel but they rent them for only a few days.

I want my passport and credit cards in a safe place. Many thanks.

[Ricardo]

Our SCB box costs only 1800 Baht per-year, so you might rent & use, for only the time you need it. As to whether you must have an account with them ... sorry, can't say.

Have a good visit to Changers !

[Pilita]

Our SCB box costs only 1800 Baht per-year, so you might rent & use, for only the time you need it. As to whether you must have an account with them ... sorry, can't say.

Have a good visit to Changers !

Thanks. What does SCB stands for? I have no problem with a fee.

[chiangmaibruce]

From our experience you would be unlikely to secure a bank box even if you DO have an account with them. We have done the ring-around on 2-3 occasions over the past couple of years and have only encountered waiting lists in the CNX banks we have approached - mainly various branches of BKK bank and SCB.

If anyone out there knows that a Chiang Mai bank has currently available boxes then please post here

thanks, CB

[thaimiller]

Our SCB box costs only 1800 Baht per-year, so you might rent & use, for only the time you need it. As to whether you must have an account with them ... sorry, can't say.

Have a good visit to Changers !

Thanks. What does SCB stands for? I have no problem with a fee.

Siam Commercial Bank - the purple colored bank

[Pilita]

Our SCB box costs only 1800 Baht per-year, so you might rent & use, for only the time you need it. As to whether you must have an account with them ... sorry, can't say.

Have a good visit to Changers !

Thanks. What does SCB stands for? I have no problem with a fee.

Siam Commercial Bank - the purple colored bank

Maybe, I will get lucky and secure one..! Thanks for the info.

[mcgriffith]

Buy a safe. I know quite a few locals and farang who own them.

Nothing in this life is 100% secure. Even a safety deposit box in a bank.

Safes are cheap here. Probably because lots of people buy/own them....just a thought.

[Pilita]

Buy a safe. I know quite a few locals and farang who own them.

Nothing in this life is 100% secure. Even a safety deposit box in a bank.

Safes are cheap here. Probably because lots of people buy/own them....just a thought.

Good idea. If can't find one to rent at a bank, it makes perfect sense to buy one.

[Mapguy]

I would like to suggest that a safe deposit box is not a great idea at all even if you can find one.

For tourists, I suggest that you use hotel boxes. Or keep your valuables in your jock strap.

For those who are somehow traveling "light" for a more extended period of time, I have no ready suggestion for you. All I can say is that if you have chosen to travel that way without adequate safeguards back home to protect documents and valuables important to you, then you have to live "light." I don't see how a safe deposit box will help you.

For those in Thailand for a longer haul, I believe that safes are much the better option. If you should become incapacitated or die, a Thai bank will basically deny access to any claimants or personal representatives to any assets and accounts without properly executed ownership or power of attorney (generally reviewed and approved at the bank in advance). Not having that a claimant will certainly need a court order. Never mind what that involves or the time it takes! An alternative is to have set up proper arrangements in your "home" country, but you had better investigate carefully the laws regarding access to safe deposit boxes after the owner has deceased.

This is a greatly simplified answer to a more difficult problem of securing documents and assets. People do play games with accounts with debit cards at ATM machines, for example. If you like playing games, it is up to you. But don't think that bankers in Thailand are fools about various tactics used by farang.

Edited October 17, 2008 by Mapguy

[chiangmaibruce]

I would suggest that there are both pros and cons to safe deposit box versus home safe with related issues like the quality of the safe and its installation, the likelihood of your house being flooded or burnt, the likelihood of a home invasion-style robbery, and so on.

Re: mapguy's legitimate concern re: access to the safe in the event of death, one approach for those married is to have the box in the name of husband/wife with keys given to each. Then if one carks it (hopefully by natural causes) then the other can raid the box before the bank is any the wiser.

Anyway for those who do happen to be looking for a bank box, I can save you some legwork (NB: the banks don't maintain a central register of which branches have available boxes - which is a pain).

We identified only two current options:

TMB near Holiday Inn (don't know the address, sorry) have one or more boxes but require a 20,000 baht + 2,000 baht deposit to be left with the bank (and no interest paid on that)

BKK Bank near the US Consulate/fruit & vege market have several boxes available (different sizes) for 3,130 baht per year for the smallest (and that includes the refundable key deposit and 400 baht annual rent). The smallest box should be quite adequate for most of us mere mortals.

[bjohn34]

Where is a good place to purchase a small safe in Chiangmai?

[mcgriffith]

I bought mine at Chan Furniture. Yeah, sure he's a sponsor, and a friend as well.

But that's not the reason I bought it there. I shopped it bigtime. Hypermarkets, Index, etc.

They sell a very nice safe (Leeco brand) that fits a laptop, docs, etc. Weighs about 55 kilos, combination and high security key.

Price was right, delivery was flawless, and customer service nonpariel.

Do your due diligence. But I am very happy with my safe I bought from Chan.

[bjohn34]

I bought mine at Chan Furniture. Yeah, sure he's a sponsor, and a friend as well.

But that's not the reason I bought it there. I shopped it bigtime. Hypermarkets, Index, etc.

They sell a very nice safe (Leeco brand) that fits a laptop, docs, etc. Weighs about 55 kilos, combination and high security key.

Price was right, delivery was flawless, and customer service nonpariel.

Do your due diligence. But I am very happy with my safe I bought from Chan.

Thanks. I am new in CM. Where is Chan Furniture?

[mcgriffith]

jeez, now I feel like a shill...

But I am very happy with this particular safe. I forgot to mention it is fire rated (1 hour at the internal temperature of the sun....just kidding).

Here's the link to their website: http://chanfurniture.com/

Or you can go to the top of the page on the main CM forum and see their banner ad.

The easy explanation is....if you are on Superhighway, looping around to the south direction (on the east side of town), as you pass Carrefour/Index, you will see it on the left a few hundred meters south. Some propeller-hatted geek will no doubt do better with a Google map, but that's all you're gonna get from me....

Or you can PM member tigerbeer, he's one of the partners.

[Pond Life]

Directions for shop selling lots of safes.

Get on the Moat road heading south.

Turn left at Mikes Burgers (might have changed names).

You're now heading towards Wororot (China Town).

Look out on your left hand side for the shop with lots of safes in plain view.

Edited June 20, 2009 by Pond Life

[hmficc]

Directions for shop selling lots of safes.

Get on the Moat road heading south.

Turn left at Mikes Burgers (might have changed names).

You're now heading towards Wororot (China Town).

Look out on your left hand side for the shop with lots of safes in plain view.

Be Warned: most "safes" are fire safes. Easy to cut through with a hand held circular saw. Sheet metal inside and out with plaster in the sandwitch.

Cost me $3,000 and some face.