How to deal with not having a physical address while cruising

[januszr]

I was wondering how cruisers deal with not having a "physical" mailing address. The bank and credit card company is telling me I have to have one and they will not accept a P.O. box. Social Security Administration (retiring soon) will probably want one as well. Any information on this would be much appreciated.

Thanks!
Janusz

[belizesailor]

Several threads on this subject. Here is one:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...d.php?t=208306


Establishing Residency via St. Brendan's Isle, Escapees etc

[DrRobinson]

Good review of different mail services here: https://www.sailingtotem.com/2016/07...-cruisers.html

[sailorchic34]

Actually Social security is not a problem, without a physical address. At least not yet.

Myself, I had paypal and walmart mail me a prepaid card (at the time free) to a friends address. I used the paperwork that came with it to open a bank account. No problem. I did not actually use either service. As they were acting as financial services, I did not need utility bills. After the bank account was opened, I changed my mailing address to the PO box. No problem.

IRS accepts a PO BOX, if that is all you have. As long as they have your $$$, no problem.

My Drivers license even lists my PO Box as that is actually my only mailing address, though I did list a slip number and marina address as physical address for the DMV. Of course I'm not there anymore, but then I don't own a car either.

[Smokeys Kitchen]

Agree with sailorchic - we too have used a marina slip as the physical address for any state entities (Washington) that required one. We have not been in that physical address for over 2 years - but that is what it still says on my state DL. Will probably continue to use the same slip # as it is also the marina where our mail service is located.

We use a local mail service for any entity that can handle a PO box, which includes most things we do. DocksideMail - they are really great:

https://www.docksidemail.com/

Bank, Medicare, SS, all professional contacts (eg. Dr, dentist, etc) are all fine with just a mailing address.

[januszr]

Thank you all for this great/useful info.

Janusz

[zengirl]

Originally Posted by DrRobinson

Good review of different mail services here: https://www.sailingtotem.com/2016/07...-cruisers.html

I don't know where they got their info or what they are including in a price of $303 for St. Brendan's mail service. I have them and pay $100 a year. I only use them for essentials, otherwise I do everything online. I make sure Dr, Humana, boat ins, car ins, soc sec, banking are all paperless.

[Scott N.]

Been using St. Brendan's Isle for five years. Love the scanning options. They are extremely helpful in answering any questions and/or concerns. Well worth the money. Highly recommend (plus you won't be imposing on a friend or family member who may get weary handling your personal mail).

[zeehag]

i have mom and a brother and a sister so i always have someone to mooch off.. err an address with a faithful family member. all my usa mail is spozed to go to my momma or brother. some still goes to downwind marine, in sd. they are great folks. i recommend them for all your cruising needs.

[john61ct]

Choose your desired State for your Legal Domicile, solve that first.

Best IMO is a real S&B residence, ideally with a trusted and stable friend or family.

The Mailing Address can then be anywhere, but a letterbox service near your domicile address raises fewer eyebrows.

Best if all government and financial databases are all consistent, just showing those two across the board.

Some like Escapees and SBI can in theory and at least for now provide both, but they may not offer your state of choice.

[chuckr]

We have been using St Brendan's Isle for 12 years. No issues as it is not a po box. Just like a house number with an apartment number.
As for credit cards ect we talk to our credit card companies and tell them where we are and what our plans are so they do not hold payments as they seem out of bounds. When we lost a card they mailed it to our land address and we had a discussion with them about our being on "vacation" in the foreign country and need the card so they overnighted it to us.
We have had no real issues and love SBI.

[Dave22q]

The easy solution is to use a friend's address. Better be a reliable good friend because he will need to filter out the junk and periodically e-mail or call you about anything that needs your attention. There are many commercial mail drops but they will not filter anything and will need an address to periodically foreward everything. That address can be general delivery or a PO box. Financial institutions generally require a physical address as do many government agencies like the IRS. Of course, if you have a home base the post office can hold your mail hile you cruise.

[jb2c]

Shouldn't you set up residence address in the state with the best tax advantages for your particular situation?

Seems like UPS deliveries would be quite troublesome!

[john61ct]

Originally Posted by jb2c

Shouldn't you set up residence address in the state with the best tax advantages for your particular situation?

Seems like UPS deliveries would be quite troublesome!

see above, the two issues are separate.

Any letterbox service will accept and forward packages, but of course that costs

Best when ordering stuff, use a Mailing address direct to a local receiver, where you plan to be then.

Your DR listed with the gov agencies and financial providers is the only one should be consistent and stable.

but yes, choose your DR state first based on tax, medical insurance whatever

[Caravela1986]

We cruised 14 years in Caribbean Oct to May but continued to own our home in NJ where we legally reside.

Registered or Certified mail addressed to us in NJ . Mail person left a brief formal notice at our home stating we had Certified or Registered mail addressed to us. After 30 or 60 days, the mail person found the brief formal notice still in place. The Mail person then returned the Certified or Registered mail to sender noting it could not be delivered.

We always notified our local police department that we were sailing on our own yacht somewhere in the Caribbean and could not provide either a address or phone number.
We requested the police to put our home on House Watch and routine patrols by police always checked our house. we gave keys to our house to a neighbor, should police, fireman, or other emergency agencies need to enter our home. We gave the police and neighbor our e-mail address but cautioned them that we have no Wi Fi service on our yacht, but we routinely check our e-mail regularly once or twice a month ashore on some island at an internet facility................so do not expect a quick reply.

We never had a problem which could not be addressed using this method. No police or other gave us a hard time. They always accepted our explanation.

We never used a mail forwarding service. Mail was delivered to our home......to a mail slot in our garage............dumping into a large plastic barrel. We reviewed our mail when we returned in May or June. Our bills were electronically paid for repetitive issues such as electricity, water, natural gas, mortgage, property taxes, ............etc directly to our checking account. Pensions, SS, .......etc were routinely also deposited to our checking account. When we visited internet service on an island we always checked our checking account for an updating. We used an ATM account, separate , from our main checking account. We drew ATM withdrawals from this second account with a small balance, large enough to cover our withdrawals. We re-furbished that second account periodically as required transferring money from our main checking account to our second smaller checking account.

In this way our ATM withdraws/deposits were safe in the second smaller account.
Both larger and smaller accounts were routinely reviewed every time we went ashore to a internet facility.................most always available on most but not every island.

We frequently changed our log in and passwords. We went ashore with our own laptop to sign in. We did not use the computers available in the internet facility.