What does the procedure for opening a safety deposit box consist of? What does the vault that contains them look like? We did the exercise.
The Sherbrooke service center of Caisse Desjardins du Centre-Est de Montréal is a small branch like there are throughout Quebec.
The opening of safety deposit boxes may be down, but the receptionist showed no surprise: take a ticket from the machine by pressing the B button, she said.
An additional indicator of the banality of the approach, the screen of said distributor only showed three buttons: current transactions, safety deposit boxes and support for digital transactions.
Barely five minutes later, an affable cashier – a member service advisor, more precisely – welcomed us at his counter.
We want to open a box, we tell him.
Do many people still come and open them? “I’d rather close them,” he replies.
For the rarest occurrence of an opening, he must first access my account with my bank card.
“What box format do you want? »
The smallest, the cheapest.
For this one, the rent amounts to $68.99 per year, or $60 plus GST and QST, he announces.
“I’ll show them to you, but we’ll have to wait a few moments, someone’s already there.” Because only one customer at a time can access the vault of the boxes, the opening of which can be seen in a corridor, behind the counter. »
The customer left shortly after. A middle-aged man. A young man would have surprised more.
The advisor takes us in front of the strong room, opposite which three samples of steel drawers are placed on a small table.
They are all the same length (24 in) and width (5 in), differing only in their height, which varies from 1.5 to 5 in.
The top of each box is closed by a long lid, hinged at its rear end.
Behind the thick steel door of the strong room, an anteroom is equipped with a small desk where the client can place the drawer taken from his box, open it, put in, take or consult documents and objects.
A second door with impressive stainless steel bars separates this storage room from the box room. To the eye – holding up a measuring tape would have looked suspicious – it measures approximately 2 m wide by 3 m deep.
On its two long walls, more than a hundred sturdy little doors fitted with key locks close as many boxes. Each contains a removable steel drawer.
This is not the vault hi-tech from the movie casino Ocean’s Elevenbut the device leaves no doubt about its solidity.
The friendly and smiling advisor gives us a demonstration. To open a box, an employee must first turn the establishment’s master key in their lock. Then the tenant uses their own key to open the door and access the drawer.
We returned to the counter.
To conclude the transaction, the advisor must have the rental contract signed, collect a specimen signature and deduct the annual rent from the account.
Since it is the beginning of March, the payment will be calculated by subtracting the months already passed. “When you close it, we will reimburse you for the months remaining in the year,” he explains.
The customer is given two keys. Be careful not to lose them, he warns: replacement costs are substantial.
To access the box, you will need to request it at the counter each time.
“I identify you, I take the file sheet, I note the day and the time, and I have you sign it,” describes the advisor.
“You can appoint a proxy,” he adds. He must be identified in the presence of the account holder for the signing of a power of attorney which will only give him access to the box. He can then access it whenever he wants.
The journalist did not complete the process. The advisor understood.
He remained smiling.