May be this is no secret but I will share it anyway. I very uncomfortable with my mail arriving to my house. I live a denseely populated area and my mail box is a short walk from the house. Anyone could come along and take my mail. This would be easy because I am rarely home. So I rent a P O Box at the post office. The only problem with this is the creditors. They usually don't approve applicants with a P O Box. So I apply using street address and change my account to P O Box after approval. But now I have discovered a better way. A postal employee told me that they read addresses from the bottom up and deliver to the lowest address. So this is how I give my address to all: John Doe 123 Elm Steet P O Box 456 Anywhere, NY 123456 My mail always goes to the P O Box and at the same time everyone knows my residential address. My crediors love it! If I need to move I only need to change the second line. Oh yea my latest copy of my CR had both street address and the P O Box listed. Fantastic.
RE: Tip for Using P O Box and I've wondered about that! I just got a BofA statement like that, the only problem is that my PO Box is 5 minutes away, but a different town and different zip code, but it doesn't seem to matter...THANKS!
P.O. Box: The true story Here it is (Source: http://members.aol.com/victcrdrpt/history.html) =========================================== Protect Your Mail --- Lose Your Credit 1989-1997 Several members throughout the country are reporting the sudden inability to get credit after opening Post Office Boxes on the advice of postal officials and law enforcement. Mail theft is an increasing problem in urban areas, where residents of many neighborhoods are advised to have mail sent to PO boxes to avoid having it stolen. The credit bureaus promptly use lists supplied by your US Post Office, including private PO Box street addresses, to put boxholders on "fraud alert". Understand that it is not the use of a box in applying for credit that gets you blacklisted, but the mere possesion of a box even if not listed on the loan application. This "special" designation (or the outdated/erroneous addresses and their sources) seldom show up on your copy of the report, but results in application rejection. Reason for rejection is usually listed as "past delinquent accounts" even when no accounts are reported. May '97 Update - The mail privacy situation has gotten much worse. Experian is now retaining address and PO Box records permanently. Reports obtained in May 1997 are showing PO Box addresses from 18 years ago--including several which were obtained from magazine subscription databases and at least one political campaign. Experian is the only bureau honest enough to at least show the erronous data to victims, but we have never seen as blatant a violation of the 7 year rule, especially since the reports often show the source as a collection agency. Credit scoring systems can scour these ancient addresses (and who reported them) for any evidence of debt well over the legal reporting time and presto, "past delinquent accounts" haunt you from the Johnson administration. You can complain to the bureaus by writing to them at their own PO Boxes. =========================================== Saar
RE: P.O. Box: The true story Thanks Saar! I was thinking that was the reason for the call from AmEx! Actually, the last card I applied for (GM CARD) asked for verification of address and so did quite a few banks a while back. That's probably the reason- someone @ a bank (I don't remember which) told me that my CR had been flagged for fraud- or something! Wow...that's certainly cleared things up! THANK YOU!
Update There's an update that was not included in original post. Here goes: ========================================== For several years credit bureaus have placed codes in the credit reports of anyone who has ever possessed private or public post office boxes. No time limits apply and boxes used in 1986 are still appearing on credit reports today. In 1994 VCR attended a banking seminar where bureau executives bragged that their system effectively caught this type of "fraud" just as it does for addresses used by inmates in prison or drug treatment facilities. Recent discussions confirm that this code is often the "kiss of death" for credit applications and can strongly influence credit scores. ======================================= (Source: http://members.aol.com/victcrdrpt/) Saar
RE: Tip for Using P O Box and I have used a PO Box for years to get my mail and I've never had a problem with a creditor regarding the PO Box. At one time I also had a Mail Boxes Etc mail box and had credit card bills sent there as well. Never had a problem with it. In fact, my actual residential address is not known by any of my creditors, nor the credit bureaus and hasn't been for several years. I have not been denied credit in that period either.
Re: RE: Tip for Using P O Box and I'm dense, so please humor me. For the past 6-7 years we (hubby and I) have had a po box. I mainly get the routine mail flyers, so I planned to close it this year when the "rent" is due in August. Are you saying that by that address being on our reports it's hurting our score? I have been disputing some c/a accts so I get mailings there, that was the address for the old bills, if their mailings are returned will they pull my credit to get my new address?
Re: P.O. Box: The true story Very interesting , Saar. I had P.O. boxes appear from 1987 on a recent report. I never had a problem getting credit though. I had them removed but looks like they are still there somewhere. I recently had my P.O. box changed by the P.O. as they were cleaning out the old block of boxes and were remodeling the place. Now looks like I moved alot in the last 2 years but I haven't.
