For the last few years, I have had my credit card statements sent to my office. I'm always worried about identity theft and someone stealing my statements from my home mail box. I am now working out of my home. Will the credit card companies have a problem with me changing my address to a PO Box? I am dealing with FirstUSA, MBNA, and Nextcard. I carry hgih balances on all these cards. In the next month or so, I plan on paying off two of my FirstUSA cards because of the high interest rates, then using their BT offer to get rid of some other high interest cards. I don't want to do anything that will cause they to be suspicious, because I need to pay down these balances, and shift around some other balances to get my APR's down.
Will you be using a box at the post office? Shouldn't be a problem if you can use the street address. I have a box at an independently owned place and I use the street address with "#XXXX" at the end.
That's not a problem. You can have statements sent anywhere. However, the P.O. Box will update on your credit reports as your current address. CardKid
The PO Box is at the US Post Office, not one of those independent ones. Interestingly, they already use my PO Box as my address even though I have never used it for credit in any way.
I have used PO Box for years. Currently I have 11 card accounts. All of them (statement, replacement cards, etc) are sent to the PO Box
Some ompanies insists on having street address and have their computer configured to detect and decline Post Office Boxes. I have used this trick quite succesfully for a long time. Instead of changing your address to: POB 111 city, state, zip I use: 111 POB city, state, zip
I think if you have an established account it should not be a problem. I have seen a lot of applications which specifically state they will not accept a P.O. Box on the application and require a street address. I find this ironic. While it used to be simple to go to the post office, fill out an application for a box and put cash on the counter it is no longer that way. Now you have to provide acceptable identification and much more information on the actual application for the box. At this point it is more reliable than a street address in my opinion. It would be much simpler for a neighbor to know your daily habits such as when mail is delivered, are you home at that time etc and submit an application with your information and street address; and have a good chance of intercepting a new card without your knowledge than it would for them to get it from your P.O. Box.
You can APPLY with street address...THEN put in a change of address a month or two later to your PO BOX.
when i apply for a CC i ALWAYS use my PO BOX as my current street address and thats all i ever give them.....even if it says home address...... i have gotten amex, mbna, citibank, cap 1, providian, sears, chase..while using PO BOX as my address....the only addy shown on my Reports is the po box....no reason for eveyone know where i live.... equifax: 753 transunion: 677 experian: ?
Just a little side note. The Post Office will provide your residence address of record to a requestor if they simply fill out a form and certify that the address is needed for "potential" service of process for litigation. They are actually very lax in their definition of how one would certify this; and basically any business that provides as little as a notarized statement advising that they are considering litigation can obtain the residence address. This is why privately owned boxes are so much better. If the owner is half way reliable nothing less than a subpoena to release the information will get them to give your residence address away.
Funny, I tried to do the same thing because a CRRR letter I sent to a CA went to a different PO Box that was two numbers higher than the one I sent it to (IE: I sent it to 1111 it went to 1113). So, I told the PO you can either refund my money or you can give me a letter confirming that the same company owns this other box as well. PO wouldn't do it. I offered to sign whatever, do whatever, no dice. They said I need to have my attorney or a law enforcement officer request it. Nice.
