Retiring to Thailand - How to retain address in country I'm a citizen of?

[skatewash]

16 minutes ago, TunnelRat69 said:

I received my Hilton Honors Amex Card thru the address about two weks ago - they use an address like so:

 

NAME

XX-XXXX SOMETHING BLVD

UNIT XX-XXX

CITY, STATE, ZIP

 

The Unit is your box number and qualifies as an address, mimicking an apartment number - voting, banking, Veterans Info, Social Security, Medical institutions etc etc etc use my address and I get  remailed to wherever I am.............has worked for six years now.   Most Financial Institutions and US Government entities will not mail to a PO Box, thus the Unit #.

Glad you haven't had any problems.  But I don't think it's the address format that fools anyone.  If someone is interested enough they can find out whether that address is a commercial mail receiving agency (which it is) or a residential address.  When you use a CMRA part of the process is signing a US postal form that authorizes the company to receive mail on your behalf.  That information is available in a database available to interested parties (financial institutions, government agencies, etc.)  If they want to check that they can.  It will show that it is not a residential address.  Whether they are interested enough to actually do that is a different story.  Hopefully, in the future they will not become more interested.  

I'm in the same boat, I use a CMRA to receive my mail in the US.  If they crack down on that in the future I guess I will be forced to burden a friend with receiving my mail instead.  It's a very low volume of mail, but I won't go that route unless all my other options disappear.

[JimmyJ]

 

8 hours ago, TunnelRat69 said:

I received my Hilton Honors Amex Card thru the address about two weks ago - they use an address like so:

 

NAME

XX-XXXX SOMETHING BLVD

UNIT XX-XXX

CITY, STATE, ZIP

 

The Unit is your box number and qualifies as an address, mimicking an apartment number - voting, banking, Veterans Info, Social Security, Medical institutions etc etc etc use my address and I get  remailed to wherever I am.............has worked for six years now.   Most Financial Institutions and US Government entities will not mail to a PO Box, thus the Unit #.

 

Good to hear it's still working for some.

 

Mine is setup the same way -

"XX-XXXX SOMETHING BLVD

UNIT XX-XXX"

 

but 2 credit card companies I applied to recognized it as not being residential and/or as being a PMB.

 

Could be the cc companies use different databases.

 

Everyone has always until now accepted my PMB including for Driver's License, etc.

But when I tried out some new car insurance companies for quotes, one of them also said "It's coming up as (a business ; or, as not residential)".

 

I'm glad it still works for you guys, as it creates a great deal of hassle when it doesn't.

 

Since this occurred I changed from the UPS Store to a new independent service which is: less than half the price; and, they send me an email listing who any mail is from. I can pay them to either forward or open the mail and scan it for me, or they will trash it on request.

 

I'm trying to go paperless on everything possible so hopefully the only mail to be forwarded will be new credit/debit cards and such.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 10, 2017 by JimmyJ

[skatewash]

The point I'm trying to make is this:  if you pay a business to give you an address to use to have your mail received for you, then you are using a Commercial Mail Receiving Agency (CMRA).  CMRAs are regulated by the government and as part of the setup process of your account, you must prove your identity to them and you must also provide your "real" address.  This form is sent to the US postal office where it is entered into a database of known CMRA addresses.  CMRA provided addresses are all business addresses.  

Any business with a legitimate need can check this database and find out if are using a residential or a business address (CMRA) regardless of what your address looks like, how residential it seems, whether it uses the terms P.O. Box or PMB or Unit # doesn't matter.  What matters is the relationship that was established between you the customer and the business you have authorized to receive mail on your behalf.

So if any business cares enough to check this database they will discover that you are using a business rather than a residential address.  Some businesses care about this, some businesses don't.  Some businesses "care" but don't actually bother to check the database.  So whether using a CMRA will cause you a problem depends entirely on the entity you are engaged in a business relationship with (the bank, the financial institution, the government agency) and how they do their due diligence in checking your address, not in the particular CMRA you use.  If you are using a CMRA and they are operating legally according to the regulations established it is knowable that the address they provide you in return for your payment is a business, not a residential, address.  Whether that causes you a problem depends entirely on whether the business sending you mail cares enough whether you are at a business or a residential address.  Some do, some don't, some don't yet, some never will.  Some didn't used to care, some of those care now.  Some of them care when you establish an account, some are less strict about allowing you to change your address of an existing account to a CMRA.

[Langsuan Man]

To expand on  skatewash's explanation of CRMA's,  the controlling document is the US Postal Service Form 1583 ( Postal Consent Form) which must be notarized and must be submitted to the Mail Forwarder along with  acceptable identification

 

As far as which businesses care enough to check , banks and credit card issuers do care enough to check because that is the law