Alarming Phone Call - Patriot Act - Full Timers

[rgetsy]

I just received phone call from my stock broker (IRA) Scottrade who informed me that they (all offices) are being audited and the auditors are finding those of us that are not living in a stick home (i.e. Livingston address or an RV park) and are having the local offices contact us to produce either copies of back utility bills or provide a change of address.

The agent stated he did not know if it was a federal audit or their public auditors but that they (auditors) are quoting the Patriot Act. The agent stated just to fill out a change of address to point to a family member or friend. And we have 30 days!

I have many reservations about this. If I change it to my mothers (who passed) address, my step father who is living in a nursing home (both address would not be Texas) or my distant sister who is living in a different state then what happens during an audit of another sort?? I would than be dishonest on a official form, I would have claimed rights to vote and taxation in a state that I don't have legal residency, etc. Get the picture?

So, I'm going to close my Scottrade accounts and hope the other broker doesn't follow suit. This could effect banking, retirement, etc.

[RVerOnTheMove]

You may have a difficult time opening a new account anywhere with only a PO box address. There are several posts suggesting this problem as well as trying to get financing or even a credit card when you can only provide a PO box as an address. The law is creating major issues for the true full-timer who owns no property or calls nowhere home. I have had to maintain a FL address where my mother lives but I was asked to provide a copy of a utility bill (cell phone bill did not count) or rent receipt and that ended the application process.

[dickandlois]

Utility Bill could be interesting issue for anyone living off the grid, if you have solar and wind power options. Kind of living off the land.

We have been thinking of just having an nu-in proved lot, with water, septic system and a pad for the coach. It would provide one with an RD address and a minimum tax bill, with a place to have a garden during the Northern summers. Then on the road for the cold weather,with possible trips during the summer when the garden needs less attention.

Kind of 3/4 timers !!!

Rich.

[thrushl]

That is our current effort Got an acre in SD for 6K. Taxes are less than 200 per year. Avoids all the headaches.

[tbutler]

A number of commercial operations in SD offer street addresses and it functions as a true address. I believe that Escapees in Texas has the same, a street address with a PMB, that will be acceptable to DHS. We had our passports renewed using our PMB in SD and the same was true for my pilot's license. We were straight up and down SD residents while we were there, voting, drivers license, vehicle license, taxes, etc. I could have produced cell phone bills, internet, satellite TV bills as well as bank and credit card statements with that address.

If you start to split all these pieces between several states then you are creating problems for yourself. You may get away with it for a while but eventually it is going to catch up with you. Besides, I've had personal friends forward mail and they did a good job but nothing works as well as a commercial operation.

We did have to change our brokers, not the firm, just a broker licensed to work in South Dakota when we made the move from Missouri to full timers. Now with our move to Texas we have a "home" address at our mobile home in our park. Again, we moved everything here, taxes, license, voting, investments, will, etc. The old days when you could be footloose and fancy free evaporated with the paranoia following 9-11-2001 and the creation of DHS.

Remember when you could walk anywhere in an airport, meet your friends as the walked off the airplane? Good luck walking into your grand children's school without a note from their parents! Some of our real old timers may remember when you didn't even need a drivers license to drive!!!! Things change and we have to change also. That's life and I choose life!

[born2travel]

Generally, when a business demands something from me and quotes any law I ask exactly what law and to see the part that verifies what they are saying. Many times that takes the wind out of sales. The worker bees are told to say the ________________ law requires it. That is not the case in many instances. The Patriot Act and HIPAA are two prime examples of over-quoted and improperly quoted laws. I am not saying this is the case here but one never knows unless you ask.

[rgetsy]

born2travel, that's good advice.

[bsinmich]

I have been selling insurance for 45 years and every 2 years I have to take the continuing ed. that is required by Michigan. After this past time, last fall, I don't know how I could ever sell something to someone who did not have a permanent address.

The Patriot Act and the anti-money laundering laws have made it almost impossible to do anything for a customer without a s&b address. There are so many laws covering every angle that it would be very difficult to carry a copy of all of them. Each company has a compliance officer who is responsible for the actions of the entire company.

[C-677946]

For a Passport, you can use a P.O. Box provided you supply a physical address. That physical address can be a "In Care Of ***" address. Locally we have a city U.S. post office that will not deliver mail to a physical street address that contains a name that they do not recognize, but they will deliver it if it is addressed "In Care Of" a person whos name they do recognize. That "In Care Of" statement can be very important in legal documents requiring physical addresses..