I have been a digital nomad for over a decade now, keeping a PO BOX in the USA, it has served its purpose for the IRS, DMV, banking etc.
Recently, my bank requested that I change my physical address to an actual home and although I complied, they have frozen my assets on account of the fact that the address has to be my “legal address” there.
As such, they have provided a list of documents, one of which I have to provide, with my hame on it, a tall order, to proove the point, see enclosed screen shot.
Has anyone else had similar problems, how have you worked around them? Is it “legal” for the bank to freeze my assets? Needless to say, I have to solve this problem quickly.
While I haven’t experience a locked account myself, there are a few ways you could get around this.
Since they accept a bank statement from another bank, I’d probably just update my address with another bank and supply the next statement. However, for must US banks I’m familiar with, you’d have to wait until the end of the month to get a new statement reflecting the new address, however some may update the previous statements as well. It’s worth checking.
Alternatively, a credit card statement might be quicker (since they often don’t follow the calendar month). In this case update the address on whichever credit card with a statement period that is closing the soonest.
Finally, even though it’s not listed specifically, many financial institutions accept for example renter’s insurance as proof of address. You could try signing up for a month via Lemonade (they allow monthly cancellations). This costs about $10 or so depending on your address.
The credit card and insurance options are a great additional tips, thank you.
I have been trying to validate with another bank for three days now, but you know who reaching someone on the phone is these days, never mind if you are thousands of miles away.
So, I will just go forward with the plan and hopefully it will work.
