DakotaPost - Problem Opening Fidelity Account - Residential Address?

[Solo_RV_Guy]

Originally Posted by Finance

Your physical address doesn’t have to be in SD. Use a friend or relative anywhere.

Feel all you want to - I agree in fact- but that doesn’t mean squat to the financial world.

Send your appreciation to D.C.

IIRC the USA Patriot Act was a hastily enacted response to the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. Surrendering rights and liberties in a knee jerk fashion was popular with politicians of both parties, who didn't want to appear 'weak on terrorism.'

[super_rep]

Originally Posted by tfryman

Did you mean:

My Home Address, INC

Actually I should have used quotes, ie. "myhomeaddressinc.com" which is the web site address for My Home Address, Inc.

[aether_one]

Originally Posted by super_rep

Actually I should have used quotes, ie. "myhomeaddressinc.com" which is the web site address for My Home Address, Inc.

No, you mispelled home as "house".

[JFXG]

There is a solution, but I don’t know precisely what it is.

We also have a Fidelity brokerage account, and they find the Escapees Mail Service address we have in Livingston TX to be perfectly acceptable. Apparently Escapees has expended the effort to make themselves compliant with all players.

Of course this is of little help if you truly desire to be a S Dakotan.

[jrs]

Originally Posted by super_rep

We use Myhoueaddressinc.com in Emery, SD, which provides a street address. We have not had any problems with bank, or brokerage accounts with using their address with a Box number.

We haven't had any issues transferring existing accounts to our PO box address in Crestview, FL with MyRVmail.com but if you try to open a new bank account like we did recently, it's an issue.....

[docj]

Originally Posted by JFXG

We also have a Fidelity brokerage account, and they find the Escapees Mail Service address we have in Livingston TX to be perfectly acceptable. Apparently Escapees has expended the effort to make themselves compliant with all players.

With all due respect, the Escapees mail service address is listed as a PMB in the online directory that most financial entities use for screening addresses. The fact that you haven't had any issues is probably more of "the luck of the draw" than anything else.

Recently, CapitalOne, with whom I've had a relationship for ~8 years while we've been full-timing sent me a letter warning me that I would need to provide a "real address" or my account would be terminated. I called to give them the address of our RV site in TX but explained that I didn't want it used as a mailing address for the account. No problem, I was told.

[JFXG]

Originally Posted by docj

With all due respect, the Escapees mail service address is listed as a PMB in the online directory that most financial entities use for screening addresses. The fact that you haven't had any issues is probably more of "the luck of the draw" ......

I don’t doubt your accuracy, doc, but I’ve yet to hear of anyone in Escapees mail having to deal with this petty address problem. Escapees has apparently done something differently. I’m quite sure nothing at Fidelity happens based on “the luck of the draw”.

[docj]

Originally Posted by JFXG

I don’t doubt your accuracy, doc, but I’ve yet to hear of anyone in Escapees mail having to deal with this petty address problem. Escapees has apparently done something differently. I’m quite sure nothing at Fidelity happens based on “the luck of the draw”.

In nearly 10 years of full-timing and having dealt with dozens of credit and banking accounts, we've had exactly two of them ask us to provide an additional physical address and, in both cases, they were quite content to accept, over the phone, the address we provided. We've used two non-Escapees mail services during this time and don't consider that to be a bad track record.

[RamblingRoze]

I am encountering the same issue with Morgan Stanley. My financial advisor is working through with the legal department as to whether they will make an exception. I did supply a relative's address but in a different state and they used that as a legal address. Thought that solved the issue but that address is used for tax reporting and any income would be reported to that state.

I have been asking about this on various forums and have heard the following and varies by institution.

If you have been a customer prior to changing to a PMB you may not encounter any issues.

Many of the institutions have a list of PMBs, whether or not they are a street address.

Some who have supplied a relative not in the same state, seem to not care about the tax reporting aspect; for banks and credit it probably doesn't matter as there is little or no income. Obviously investment firms are an issue.

It varies by institution because it is based on the way they interpreted and implemented the "Know Your Customer" and Patriot Act Requirements.

I opeed my account with Morgan Stanley in October. The address was flagged in late November. I questioned the use of that address in December. Have told them I would have to leave if they could not resolve and my FA agrees with me. Not sure what firm to go to though if it cannot be resolved.

[RamblingRoze]

Originally Posted by tfryman

Kinda make you wonder what they do for sailors"
USN?
Merchant Marine?
Cruise Ship?

All living onboard ship with no "residence".

Or Airmen and Soldiers living in barracks stateside or deployed?

Do they accept APO and FPO addresses as residences?

The financial verification portion of the Patriot act is supposed to aide in verifying your identity and where you live. Seems like using a friend's or relative's address as your address is kind of deceiving as you don't live there.

Our gubermint at work.

In the Patriot Act, APOs and FPOs are treated as physical addresses, PMBs are not.

[RamblingRoze]

Originally Posted by docj

That address doesn't have to become the mailing address for the account nor does it have to even be the legal address

Some institutions use it as the legal address. They have implemented in their systems that a PMB cannot be a legal address.

[RamblingRoze]

Originally Posted by JFXG

There is a solution, but I don’t know precisely what it is.

We also have a Fidelity brokerage account, and they find the Escapees Mail Service address we have in Livingston TX to be perfectly acceptable. Apparently Escapees has expended the effort to make themselves compliant with all players.

Of course this is of little help if you truly desire to be a S Dakotan.

If I may ask, were you an existing customer when you changed to a PMB? Did you do this several years ago before the Patriot Act? Is the PMB address what they use for tax reporting?

I have the same issue with Morgan Stanley and am also looking for a solution or alternatively another investment firm.

[Flanz]

We currently have a Fidelity brokerage account and have been fulltiming for four years. We’ve had this account for over 12 years prior to going fulltime.

When we decided to go fulltime we changed our address to a South Dakota PMB using My Dakota Address, out of Madison. We then sent this address change to Fidelity and applied for new checks with the address change. No problems what so ever. Fidelity changed our address and sent the checks with our new address printed on them....

Maybe it has to do with the fact that we’ve had this account for a long time prior to the change. Maybe it has to do with having money in the account or the amount prior to the change. I don’t know and don’t plan to ask.

All I know is that we’ve been writing checks and paying bills from our checking account and still have IRA’s with Fidelity. We’ve also changed our South Dakota PMB address. Our first mail forwarding service went belly up, My Dakota Address, and we changed to Your Best Address, YBA, out of Sioux Falls no questions asked.

[RamblingRoze]

Originally Posted by Flanz

We currently have a Fidelity brokerage account and have been fulltiming for four years. We’ve had this account for over 12 years prior to going fulltime.

....

Our first mail forwarding service went belly up, My Dakota Address, and we changed to Your Best Address, YBA, out of Sioux Falls no questions asked.

Thanks. This confirms what seems to be the case. If they "know" you, you can change to a PMB without issue and does not matter which PMB - don't think there is anything different about Escapees as others have said. Opening a new account gets scrutiny.