Where to Store Gold and Silver

There are four main ways to keep physical gold: a home safe, a bank safe deposit box (a locker), a professional vault or a vault account with a dealer. Bank boxes are cheap but the bank usually doesn't insure what's inside, and many banks have stopped offering them. Vault accounts charge about 0.12–1% of the value a year with insurance included — $155 to $1,289 a year for a kilo of gold worth $128,878 today. Keeping gold at home costs nothing to run, but standard home insurance often covers very little bullion: $200 on the standard US policy, and none on India's standard policy.

Facts checked 26 October 2026 · Costs on today's prices: gold $4,008.56/oz, silver $54.07/oz · Not financial advice

The options compared

Option	Cost	Insurance	Access	If the provider fails
Home safe	One-off: a few hundred to several thousand for the safe and fitting	Your home insurance, which often caps bullion and cash very low unless you list items	Any time	—
Bank safe deposit box	Small yearly rent (e.g. $25–300 in the US, £255–801 at Metro Bank, C$80–500 at RBC)	Usually none from the bank; insure the contents yourself	Branch opening hours; waiting lists	Contents stay yours, but access can be delayed
Vault, allocated / segregated	About 0.12–1% of the value a year, often with a monthly minimum	Usually included, by the vault operator or Lloyd's	Sell online any time; delivery for a fee	Specific bars belong to you, off the provider's balance sheet
Vault, unallocated	Low or free	Depends on the provider	Sell online any time	You are an unsecured creditor of the provider
Gold ETF (no storage)	About 0.10–0.40% a year plus dealing costs	Not guaranteed: the largest ETF says it can't assure the custodians insure the gold	Sell on the stock market	You own shares in a trust, not bars

Vault storage fees as published (October 2026)

Provider	Gold	1 kg gold a year	Silver	1 kg silver a year	Minimums and notes
BullionVault	0.12%	$155	0.48%	$8.34	min. $4 a month (gold), $8 (silver). Allocated; vaults in Zurich, London, New York, Toronto and Singapore; insurance included; bullion held off the company's balance sheet.
Goldmoney	0.25%	$322	0.50%	$8.69	min. $10 a month. Vault account.
BullionStar (Singapore)	0.39%	$503	0.59%	$10.26	S$0.19 a day minimum; S$129 to withdraw. Vault in Singapore.
APMEX storage (Citadel, Brink's security)	0.55%	$709	0.55%	$9.56	min. $15 a month; 0.45% above $10m. "Fully insured based on current market values".
Degussa (Switzerland)	0.50%	$644	0.50%	$8.69	CHF 50,000–1m band; 1.5% in the customs-free warehouse. Insured at full value; gold is not subject to Swiss VAT, silver is unless kept in the customs-free warehouse.
Perth Mint Depository (allocated)	1.00%	$1,289	1.90%	$33.03	unallocated storage free; pool-allocated silver 0.95%. Owned by the Government of Western Australia, holdings backed by a government guarantee.
The Royal Mint, The Vault	1.00%	$1,289	1.00%	$17.38	+ VAT; 2% + VAT for single coins and bars of 1 oz or less. UK; physical bullion is not regulated by the FCA, so FSCS and Ombudsman protection do not apply.

Yearly cost = the fee × the value of 1 kg at today's price (gold $128,878, silver $1,738), before minimum charges and VAT. A sample of providers that serve private individuals, not a ranking or a recommendation; fees change, so check each provider's current tariff.

Allocated vs unallocated: what you own

Allocated or segregated storage means specific bars are yours. The vault holds them as a custodian (a "bailment" in English law), so if the company goes bust its creditors can't claim them. Segregated means your metal sits in its own compartment; non-segregated means it's in a shared area but still yours.

Unallocated metal is a promise: you are an unsecured creditor and the gold backing your claim belongs to the provider. It is cheaper — the Perth Mint charges nothing for unallocated storage, backed by a Western Australian government guarantee — but you depend on the provider's finances.

Ask any provider: who owns the metal, who insures it and for how much, how often it is audited, and how you get it back.

Keeping gold at home

Check your insurance first. The standard US homeowners form covers $200 of money, bullion, gold and coins and about $1,500 of jewellery theft. In the UK, HSBC's home policy (by Aviva) has a £1,500 single-item limit for valuables and £750 for money; Bank of Scotland caps precious-metal items at a third of the contents cover. India's standard home policy excludes bullion. Listing items or a separate valuables policy usually fixes this.

Choose a graded safe and anchor it. In Europe, insurers rate safes by EN 1143-1 grade: about £60,000 of valuables for grade 0 and £100,000 for grade 1 (typical UK ratings; insurers differ). Safes under 1,000 kg must be anchored for the grade to count. In the US, look for UL ratings (UL 72 for fire, TL-15 or TL-30 for burglary resistance).

Bank safe deposit boxes by country

Country	Rent (examples)	Rules and availability
United States	About $25 to a few hundred dollars a year.	Contents are not covered by FDIC deposit insurance and banks generally don't insure them; a rider on home or renter's insurance is the usual cover. Several big banks stopped offering new boxes (Chase from December 2021, Citizens 2020, Capital One 2016). Unpaid rent can lead to the box being drilled and the contents sent to the state's unclaimed-property office.
United Kingdom	Metro Bank £255–£801 a year.	Most high-street banks have left the market (HSBC and Barclays closed theirs; Lloyds and NatWest serve only existing holders in a few branches). Metro Bank still offers boxes in about 75 stores, subject to availability, and asks customers to insure the contents themselves. Independent vault companies fill the gap.
India	Set by each bank; a deposit of up to 3 years' rent can be asked.	Under the RBI's locker rules in force since 1 January 2022, a bank's liability for fire, theft, burglary, robbery, building collapse or fraud by its staff is capped at 100 times the annual rent. Banks are not liable for natural disasters and may not sell insurance on locker contents. You get an SMS and email on every access, nomination is available, and lockers are scarce (about 6 million in the country).
UAE	About AED 630–6,300 a year plus a refundable deposit.	You usually need an account with the bank, an Emirates ID and, for expatriates, a residence visa; waiting lists are common. Banks' terms don't say they insure the contents. Private vault operators exist in Dubai.
Saudi Arabia	Al Rajhi SAR 800–1,600 a year.	A current account is needed and the box must be visited at least once a year; the bank says valuables are insured but gives no limits.
Singapore	UOB S$257–674 a year.	Bank boxes are available; private vaults (for example The Reserve) also serve individuals.
Australia	—	Bank boxes are disappearing: NAB has closed its service, ANZ has offered no new boxes since 2016, and Westpac is ending branch safe custody between August and December 2026 (its city vaults move to Guardian Vaults).
Canada	RBC C$80–500, Scotiabank C$80–450 a year.	Still offered by the big banks, subject to availability; RBC's lease excludes liability for fire, theft and acts of God.
Hong Kong	Public Bank (HK) HK$450–6,000 a year.	Banks don't need approval from the HKMA to offer boxes and no official figures on availability exist.
Malaysia	Maybank RM250–700 a year.	HSBC Malaysia closed its box service in 2024. Bank gold investment accounts and a gold ETF on Bursa avoid storage altogether.
Pakistan	Set by each bank.	State Bank of Pakistan rules require banks to insure lockers up to a stated ceiling per locker size, tell customers that ceiling, and pay up to it if a locker is broken open.

Private box companies are an option where banks have stopped, but check who runs them and how: in 2021 the FBI raided a Beverly Hills private vault company and seized about 700 boxes (a court later ruled the search unlawful).

Discretion, proof and posting

Don't advertise it. Police in the UK have warned against posting photos of gold jewellery or festival purchases on social media after rises in gold burglaries.

Keep proof of ownership — invoices, bar serial numbers, assay certificates and photos — stored away from the metal. Insurers and couriers pay out only on proof of value.

Posting bullion: in the US, Registered Mail can be insured for up to $50,000, while other USPS services pay at most $15 for bullion; Royal Mail Special Delivery covers up to £750 as standard. For larger values use an insured specialist carrier. Travelling? See the gold travel allowance by country.

Gold without storage (and India's closed schemes)

Gold ETFs track the price without you holding bars; the largest charges 0.40% a year. In India, the Sovereign Gold Bond scheme has been discontinued (no new issue since February 2024; existing bonds run to maturity), the medium- and long-term Gold Monetisation deposits closed in March 2025, and SEBI warned in November 2025 that app-based "digital gold" is unregulated. Gold ETFs and exchange-traded gold products are the regulated routes.

Storing Gold: FAQ

What is the safest place to store gold?

There is no single answer: it is a trade-off between cost, insurance and access. A professional vault with allocated (named, segregated) metal and insurance included protects against theft and keeps the gold yours if the company fails, at roughly 0.12–1% of the value a year. A bank box is cheap but the contents are usually not insured by the bank. A home safe costs nothing to run, but most home insurance covers very little bullion.

Is gold in a bank safe deposit box insured?

Usually not by the bank. In the US, FDIC deposit insurance does not cover box contents and banks generally limit their liability; in India the RBI caps a bank's liability at 100 times the annual locker rent for fire, theft and similar losses (not natural disasters), and banks may not sell insurance on the contents. Insure the contents yourself, typically with a rider on your home insurance.

Does home insurance cover gold?

Often only a little. The standard US homeowners form (HO-3) covers just $200 for money, bullion, gold and coins; India's standard home policy excludes bullion; UK policies typically cap single valuables around £1,500 and money in the home at £500–750 unless items are listed. Ask your insurer about a scheduled item or a separate valuables policy.

What is the difference between allocated and unallocated gold?

Allocated (or segregated) gold means specific bars belong to you and the vault holds them as custodian, so they are not part of the provider's assets if it fails. Unallocated gold is a claim on the provider: you are an unsecured creditor, and the metal belongs to the provider. Unallocated storage is cheaper or free, but carries the provider's credit risk.

How much does it cost to store gold in a vault?

One kilogram of gold is worth about $128,878 today, so published fees run from 0.12% a year (about $155 a year for 1 kg) to 1–2% plus VAT at some mints ($1,289+). Minimum monthly charges make small holdings relatively dearer. Silver costs more to store because it is bulky: about 0.5–2% a year.

Is a gold ETF safer than storing gold myself?

It removes storage and theft risk but replaces it with other risks: you own shares in a trust, not bars. The largest gold ETF says in its annual report that shareholders cannot be assured the custodians insure the gold, and only large institutions can exchange shares for metal. Fees are around 0.40% a year for the biggest fund.

Sources

General information, checked October 2026. Fees, bank services and insurance terms change; check the current terms with the provider and your insurer. Not financial or legal advice, and no provider here pays to be listed.