If it can happen in Greece, your access to safety deposit boxes here in the United States can also be denied. Yes, it is a real possibility. If you have a safety deposit box, I would highly recommend that you close it. The Greek closure to safety deposit boxes is the so-called "shot-accross-the bow." Our government can simply restrict your access, just like in Greece.
A while back I had a post entitled, "Do You Know the Legal Ramifications of Your Bank Deposits?" In that post, I made the following comments, which is germane in regard to the Greece's "Safety Deposit Boxes:" For nearly 200 years, the courts have sanctioned an
interpretation of the term “deposits” to mean not funds that you deliver for safekeeping but a loan to your bank. Let me repeat that in another way. Your bank balance, then, is an IOU from the
bank to you, even though there is no loan contract and no required interest
payment. Thus, legally speaking, you have a claim on your money
deposited in a bank, but practically speaking, you have a claim only on the
loans that the bank makes with your money.
If a large portion of those loans (securities) is tied up or becomes
worthless, your money claim is compromised.
A bank failure simply means that the bank has reneged on its promise to
pay you back. The bottom line is that
your money is only as safe as the bank’s loans and securities. If the bank’s portfolio collapses in value, the bank is broke; and its depositors’ savings are gone, or as Greeks are
finding out access to one's safety deposit boxes can be simply denied by the government."
Now, why would the government deny you access to what is yours? Could it be what the government thinks is in those boxes? In other words, beware.
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