I’ve heard of things like iPostal and Traveling Mailbox. Do these services allow you to register with bank, DMV, IRS, Voting, etc? How do they work? Would a normal P.O box using its physical address from USPS work? I’ve tried researching it and haven’t gotten clear answers.
I don’t want to show up on those whitepages sites with all my information on them. I want to stop it from the start.
Do you have an address? Or are you moving around? A PO box is good for people who don’t stay in one place very long, but want to receive mail. Whether you can use that at the bank, the dmv, the IRS, or voting depends entirely upon which state you live in.
What you are likely referring to is a “nomad” residence. There are some states that allow this, such as Florida. There is a process to getting this status and you would want to do that before opening a new account in that state.
Those info sites aren’t built from bank records. They’re built from public records databases like voters, property, taxes, legal cases, and government actions, including stuff like just showing up to the city council to complain.
You could conceivably open an account in another country where they’re very private about banking info, but it wouldn’t help your case, and it would probably be a huge hassle for your day to day life.
Sounds like instead of the whitepages, you’ll end up on an FBI list.
/s sorry for the non-answer…I dont really have any practicle advice beyond being careful you don’t end up suspected of criminal activity. Your privacy will really go down hill if the gov. is actually paying attention to you.
I had to change my address to my physical address from a PO Box in the first week of the year to prevent my account getting closed. This was with a major bank, and it’s all thanks to the patriot act. Then again, I do have a checking account with a much smaller bank and they haven’t said a word about it. I use the street address with a “unit number” for my box. Seems like they either haven’t dug into it and realized it’s a PO Box or they’re just small enough where they don’t care much about it like the big banks. So basically, you need a physical address these days, if you don’t you risk account closure.
Banks require a physical address, that’s part of basic KYC (know your customer) requirements and part of anti money laundering / anti terrorism funding laws.
So they won’t accept P.O. boxes. While those mail forwarders can work, some will also blacklist them over time.
And really, ask yourself the question if you want your cards, PIN, and general correspondence about your finances mailed to a random third party where some underpaid person opens up and scans your letters all day…
Not quite sure what you mean with whitepages btw., your bank is not signing you up anywhere.
Somebody is. Either way. I don’t want to let strangers online my phone and home address. Ideally, I would want a p.o box type thing or mail forwarding. I don’t care for them scanning my packages.
Unless your government id has a PO box on it you’re likely not going to get the results you’re looking for. As somebody else mentioned, that info is public record.
If you’re paying property taxes, you’re going to be in a database. At least here in Texas, all addresses (home, business, empty land) are in the county’s appraisal and tax database that’s publicly searchable.
Right, and the data in Texas contains your address and name attached to it. It’s all public, you can’t avoid it. I don’t know about other states but I assume it’s the same
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