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How Do I Avoid Giving Home Address to Bank?

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.

TexMexBazooka ,

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.

makeasnek , (edited )
@makeasnek@lemmy.ml avatar

For many of these things, if you are genuinely homeless and have no stable address, there are ways to do it you just have to tell the bank/agency you are working with. However, lying to them is a different thing and for many of these institutions it would be a crime, so don't do that.

  • IRS: You can specify a different mailing address, but I believe you must provide a home address and sign things under penalty of perjury. Ask a CPA. There may be some way to have a lawyer or CPA file for you and put their address on it instead.

  • Voting: Depends on the state, ask your local voter registration office. Anti-stalking laws may help you here.

  • DMV: Nope, they're not gonna let you get a license or tags without an address. Especially if you want a REALID which you can use to take planes.

  • Bank: Banks are required to have your home address thanks to the PATRIOT act and other laws. But you don't have to have a bank account.

One great alternative to banks is Bitcoin. It doesn't require any ID or other personal information to use. You can't pay for everything with it, but you can pay for some things with it, and every time you do, you help build an economy that doesn't require you have six forms of ID to access it. If you start asking and looking, you'd be surprised how many places will accept it. 20% of Americans own some form of cryptocurrency, 50% of millennial males making >75k/year do. That number grows every year.

  • Bitcoin has been faithfully relaying transactions for 15 years 24/7 365 without a single hour of downtime or hack. It has a clear fiscal policy it has kept to. The bitcoin ledger, where transactions are stored, is the most secure document in the world and is completely decentralized and politically neutral. No government can force it to do anything it isn't designed to do.
  • All you need to access it is a mobile phone and an internet connection.
  • With Bitcoin lightning, international transactions confirm in under a second with fees 100-1000% less than credit cards, often times under a single cent per transaction.
  • In every major metropolitan area, there are places you can exchange Bitcoin in person for other currencies. You can also do it online. Some of those places require ID, others don't.
  • Your funds are yours and yours alone. No bank or other entity can lock them up or take them from you. Likewise, there is a limited supply of Bitcoin, so nobody can print more Bitcoin and make yours worth less in the process like is done with every major fiat currency.
  • Bitcoin's adoption on average continues to grow year after year no matter how you measure it: liquidity, amount locked in lightning, number of nodes, whatever.
  • For most major retailers online and off, you can buy their gift cards with Bitcoin at exchange sites
  • And it does all this for less than 1% of global energy usage, often times from renewables.

For a custodial wallet (somebody else holds the funds for you, much like a bank) I suggest Strike. You can easily buy/sell BTC/USD and move between your bank account. Note most custodial wallets require some form of ID and if their company goes under, it takes your funds with it. "Not your keys, not your coins".

For a non-custodial wallet, I highly suggest Phoenix which uses lightning (a layer on top of bitcoin). No ID is required. The downside of self-custody/non-custodial wallets is that when you send your first funds to it, you will need to "swap in" and "make a channel", which incurs a fee for using the BTC layer one blockchain, which is $1-$10 depending on which day you do it. After that, you can use lightning which has the crazy low fees mentioned above. If you don't want to use lightning and your transactions are usually larger and/or rare, you can use a classic non-lightning wallet. All this may sound a bit complicated, but it's because you're already used to all the complication that comes with navigating the banking system. After you've setup your wallet, it will become equally intuitive to you, it's just a matter of dipping your toes in.___-

averyminya ,

How do I pay for my groceries with Bitcoin?

makeasnek ,
@makeasnek@lemmy.ml avatar

You can either:

  • Shop at grocery stores that accept bitcoin. Farmers markets are often good places to find BTC vendors, or you may have a "BTC vendor day" in your area. If you look up "Bitcoin in Tulsa, Oklahoma" or wherever you live, there are plenty of sites with maps of vendors that support BTC.
  • Use online sites like like bitrefill which let you buy gift cards with your Bitcoin, often with significant discounts. Pretty much any major retailer can be spent at this way
  • Use a "bitcoin debit card" which is essentially a custodial bitcoin account you put BTC into and when you swipe your debit card, it automatically converts your BTC to fiat to pay the merchant. This of course requires KYC.
  • Worth noting that most grocery stores in the US have coinstars, which you can use to buy and maybe also sell Bitcoin? Many others have Bitcoin atms. I believe these also require some degree of kyc, I haven't used them before.
DirigibleProtein ,

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.

Mugmoor ,
@Mugmoor@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

If you're this concerned, why are you using a bank at all? You strike me as a cash under the mattress type.

pineapplelover OP ,

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?

Zorque ,

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.

TexMexBazooka ,

Because not giving the bank your contact information will accomplish exactly nothing to that affect, and it makes you sound delusional and paranoid.

HedonismB0t ,

That's entirely reasonable and I totally agree with you, however banks are pretty tightly regulated and can't give away or sell customer information. Much higher likelihood it's an app on your phone that's been harvesting your data to a broker, or your data was aggragated from a breach and sold.

HyonoKo ,

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.

themeatbridge ,

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.

SecurityPro ,
@SecurityPro@lemmy.ml avatar

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.

admiralteal ,

Wouldn't filing for nomad residence when you have an actual residence be fraud?

SecurityPro ,
@SecurityPro@lemmy.ml avatar

You are not defrauding anyone. Plus there is a legitimate process to go through to establish nomad residency. It creates a valid residential address.

rizoid ,
@rizoid@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

There's a point where wanting privacy crosses a line into not wanting to live in reality.

SheeEttin ,

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.

helpImTrappedOnline ,

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.

hperrin ,

I believe it is illegal to misrepresent your permanent residence to your bank.

meyotch ,

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.

jordanlund ,
@jordanlund@lemmy.world avatar

If you own a home, your address is already a matter of public record.

SinningStromgald ,

You either get paid in cash or get physical checks and cash them.

shreddy_scientist ,
@shreddy_scientist@lemmy.ml avatar

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.

pineapplelover OP ,

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.

viking ,
@viking@infosec.pub avatar

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.

pineapplelover OP ,

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.

ursakhiin ,

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.

HedonismB0t ,

If someone is putting your info into Whitepages, it's not your bank.

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