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.
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.
There’s a point where wanting privacy crosses a line into not wanting to live in reality.
Tell them you’re homeless. Put your address as “No fixed address” and use Post Restante — also known as General Delivery.
If they make a fuss and demand a home address, reiterate that you’re homeless and demand that they provide you with a home. Worked for me (when I actually was homeless) for a few years.
If you’re this concerned, why are you using a bank at all? You strike me as a cash under the mattress type.
Dude I just don’t want my name, phone number, and address all over the public web. Why am I getting so much hate for this?
It won’t be, at worst it will be passed around a bunch of marketing companies sending you a bunch of pointless junk mail. And that’s really only if you go to a shitty bank.
I think this question generates so much hate because it makes the privacy-concerned audience realize there is actually little hope for privacy in our society in its current state.
Because not giving the bank your contact information will accomplish exactly nothing to that affect, and it makes you sound delusional and paranoid.
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.
Get paid in Monero.
If you want to buy a home and get loans this may not be the way to go.
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.
Depending on your state a bunch of homeowner tax data is freely available online
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
It is. At least in all 6 states I’ve lived in.
You can’t buy a home either or else there will be a public record of your name and address.
You can get loans through Aave On ETH, Polygon, etc, But yeah, buying a home would be a bit difficult.
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.
Wouldn’t filing for nomad residence when you have an actual residence be fraud?
You are not defrauding anyone. Plus there is a legitimate process to go through to establish nomad residency. It creates a valid residential address.
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.
I mean I could try not using a big bank. Thanks for that. I’ll see how moving over to a small bank goes using a usps p.o box.
Wait till you learn about phonebooks, the OG white pages. I don’t think banks are the source of the info that appears on the ‘white pages’ type sites.
I see this kinda of lunacy here frequently: privacy is important but you have to exist on paper in some fashion to make it in society.
The bank has to have your information. That’s how it works.