Question about safety deposit boxes

My key has the box number on a metal tag attached to it, although the tag could be removed. But if someone saw I had the tag-key combination, they would be able to figure out that the box was mine. In my bank you have to sign a card that has a sample of your signature and the box number, present a picture ID, and have the key to get into the safety deposit box. So far as I can tell, more than one person in the bank handles the signing in and letting you into the vault to get your box, so multiple people in the bank could know which number box was associated with a particular name/person if they happened to care. My impression is that there isn't much security in handling the sign-in cards and that access to them is easy for bank employees. All the security is directed at assuring that the person who wants to get into the box is authorized to do so. I notice that you are in the UK. This info applies to the US, specifically California.

If a client came in often to access their box, then someone in the bank might refer to it as "old Mrs. Johnson's box." My bank is large and impersonal and since I only get into my safety deposit box a couple of times a year, I can't imagine anyone connecting me to a particular box number unless they had a special reason to be interested in doing so -- and if they did, they'd be disappointed since the only things I keep in there are papers it would be a pain to lose - passport, deed to the house, marriage license, title to the car, birth certificate.

Strongbear said:

Do safety deposit boxes usually have just a number or do people ever know the name in which they were rented/bought? For example, if there was a Box 250 in a bank, would someone other than the renter know the name or would it be completely anonymous? If someone does know, who would have access to that information? Only the bank or anyone else?

Thanks

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The person renting the box has the number and one key, the other key is kept by the bank. The bank has your signature on file as the owner of the box. You need to sign in that you are the person who rented the box, the bank agent will take both keys, unlock the door to your box, remove the box, lay it on a table and leave the room for your privacy. Boxes come in different sizes and cost according to the size.

In my bank, the customer has the number and one key; the bank employee has the other and together you go back to insert both keys (necessary to open) and then you are allowed to take the box to a small, private room.