I’ve heard of things like iPostal and Traveling Mailbox. Do these services allow you to register with bank, DMV, IRS, Voting, etc? How do they work? Would a normal P.O box using its physical address from USPS work? I’ve tried researching it and haven’t gotten clear answers.
I don’t want to show up on those whitepages sites with all my information on them. I want to stop it from the start.
For many of these things, if you are genuinely homeless and have no stable address, there are ways to do it you just have to tell the bank/agency you are working with. However, lying to them is a different thing and for many of these institutions it would be a crime, so don’t do that.
IRS: You can specify a different mailing address, but I believe you must provide a home address and sign things under penalty of perjury. Ask a CPA. There may be some way to have a lawyer or CPA file for you and put their address on it instead.
Voting: Depends on the state, ask your local voter registration office. Anti-stalking laws may help you here.
DMV: Nope, they’re not gonna let you get a license or tags without an address. Especially if you want a REALID which you can use to take planes.
Bank: Banks are required to have your home address thanks to the PATRIOT act and other laws. But you don’t have to have a bank account.
One great alternative to banks is Bitcoin. It doesn’t require any ID or other personal information to use. You can’t pay for everything with it, but you can pay for some things with it, and every time you do, you help build an economy that doesn’t require you have six forms of ID to access it. If you start asking and looking, you’d be surprised how many places will accept it. 20% of Americans own some form of cryptocurrency, 50% of millennial males making >75k/year do. That number grows every year.
For a custodial wallet (somebody else holds the funds for you, much like a bank) I suggest Strike. You can easily buy/sell BTC/USD and move between your bank account. Note most custodial wallets require some form of ID and if their company goes under, it takes your funds with it. “Not your keys, not your coins”.
For a non-custodial wallet, I highly suggest Phoenix which uses lightning (a layer on top of bitcoin). No ID is required. The downside of self-custody/non-custodial wallets is that when you send your first funds to it, you will need to “swap in” and “make a channel”, which incurs a fee for using the BTC layer one blockchain, which is $1-$10 depending on which day you do it. After that, you can use lightning which has the crazy low fees mentioned above. If you don’t want to use lightning and your transactions are usually larger and/or rare, you can use a classic non-lightning wallet. All this may sound a bit complicated, but it’s because you’re already used to all the complication that comes with navigating the banking system. After you’ve setup your wallet, it will become equally intuitive to you, it’s just a matter of dipping your toes in.___-