Change Your Address When Moving
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Every time you move house, your postal address changes so you’re going to have to change your address with the United States Postal Service (USPS) to keep receiving your mail.
You can change your address before the move takes place (at least 2 weeks before you move out) or right after you move into the new home. To avoid losing important pieces of mail, changing your address prior to Moving day is the preferred option.
For your convenience, there are 4 ways to change your address when moving: 1) ONLINE, 2) IN PERSON, 3) BY PHONE, and 4) BY MAIL.
All these Change of Address (COA) methods are described in detail below.
Finding yourself in your new home (FINALLY!) after a long and energy-draining moving day doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re expected to let your guard down.
On the contrary – the end of the first leg of your relocation journey only marks the start of the second leg – the immediate post relocation period which, similar to its predecessor, is also filled up to the brim with tasks of all sorts.
The good news here is that you don’t really have a concrete deadline as was the case with your pre-move preparations (the move day, remember?), and that fact alone will let you take care of the jobs ahead at your own comfortable pace.
Before you can start to really settle in, you need to make sure that you update your mailing address so that your regular mail (postcards, letters, magazines and newspapers, bills, and government benefits) continue to reach you without any problems.
But just how to change your address when you move?
Once you understand why updating your address is crucial, you have 4 options in your change of address checklist:
change your postal address online,
change your residential address at a local post office,
update your address by phone, and
change the new address by mail.
If you have no idea where to begin the change of address procedure or you don’t know what to expect in terms of time, money, and level of difficulty, then the following step-by-step guide on how to change your address when you move house is exactly what you need.
Take advantage of this detailed Change of Address Checklist to keep things running smoothly.
Top 5 things to know before you change your address
Changing your address after you’ve moved house doesn’t seem like a relatively complicated thing to do, and in most cases, it does prove to be a straightforward entry on your to-do list.
But unless you understand your options well and follow the change of address checklist step by step, you could lose loads of time, maybe a bit more money than necessary, and possibly worst of all – important pieces of mail along the way.
Briefly, here are the top 5 things to know before you register your new address with the USPS (United States Postal Service):
1. Do you know your complete and correct new address?
Welcome to your new home! Are you planning on moving house again anytime soon? If not, consider a permanent change of address.
It may seem like a silly thing to do, but it’s possible that you register an incomplete or wrong address with the U.S. Post Office due to the stress and fatigue of having moved all of your belongings and yourself to a new area in a largely unfamiliar part of the country.
Confirm with your realtor or your landlord the correct, complete and error-free postal address of your new house or apartment. Make sure the ZIP code is the right one too before initiating the change of address procedure described below.
2. Temporary or permanent change of address when moving?
When changing your address after the move, you will need to decide whether you will file a temporary change of address or a permanent change of address.
A temporary change of address when moving means that your mail will be forwarded from your old mailing address to the new one only for a specific period of time – usually up to 6 months, with the option to extend it up to 12 months. Choose this option if you’re moving temporarily, like spending the cold winter months in a place with a warmer climate, for instance.
The good news here is that business mailers won’t be given your temporary change of address (COA), and you know exactly what that means, don’t you? (Yay! No JUNK MAIL!!!)
A permanent change of address when moving means that your mailing address will be changed permanently, not just for a specified period. Choose this option if you do not plan to move house again in the near future.
The bad news here is that your new permanent change of address (COA) will be registered in the National Change of Address database (NCOA), which basically means that you should expect the usual helpings of junk mail sometime in the near future.
3. Individual or family change of address?
The USPS change of address when moving means that you are required to include in the change of address form the names of all the people who are moving or have just moved with you.
Fill out a separate change of address request if there are members in your family with different surnames or only some individuals are moving to a new location while the rest are staying behind. This is not particularly fun but the USPS will only forward mail that will match the name of the recipient written out in the request form.
If your entire family is moving as one and everyone has the same surname, then it’s much easier – you just fill out one change of address form for the entire household.
4. How long does it take for a change of address to take effect?
It’s nice to be getting your regular mail once more, isn’t it?
In general, a change of address when you move will take effect roughly 7 business days after your change COA request. Of course, the exact processing time will depend on a number of factors, including your exact location, time of year, number of requests currently being processed, and so on.
The processing time for the old address can take around business 3 days – add 3 more days to process the request for the new address and there you have the 7-day period when your mailing address will be in limbo.
Note that it’s possible that your request be processed much faster – for example, for a local change of address.
5. How far in advance to do a change of address when moving?
Opinions differ on the matter of how far in advance you should change your address when moving house. Some experts advise that you do it at least two weeks before you move so that by the time you arrive in your new home, your mail will have already been forwarded to the right mailing address.
This piece of advice does make a lot of sense but it’s still possible that some pieces of mail get lost during the chaotic move-out and move-in periods.
Speaking of chaotic periods, the main issue with changing your address before moving day is the increased chance of you forgetting to do so due to the overwhelming number of tasks you have to complete, sometimes at once.
Therefore, to make sure no important job slips your mind during the crazy busy preparations, do follow your MOVING CHECKLIST – the one that is free, detailed, comprehensive, downloadable and, printable. Oh, and interactive too!
Other moving experts seem to think that the better option is to change your address right after the move is complete and you’re already in your new home. However, to make sure no mail is lost, you are advised to leave some cash with a good neighbor or the new home owners or leasers, and ask them to forward your mail to the new address until your post-move COA request kicks in.
source: https://www.mymovingreviews.com/move/change-address-when-moving/source: https://www.mymovingreviews.com/move/change-address-when-moving/