As it comes with every move, you’ll need to update your address with the United States Postal Service. You can do this fairly easily with the USPS change of address form online but we want to take you through the process to make it that much more easier for you.
6 Steps: USPS Change of Address
Step 1: Who’s moving
There are six quick steps to officially change your address with the USPS. First, you need to determine who is moving or has moved into the new house with you. An individual USPS address change, a family change or business change. If you have a spouse and/or children, you should go ahead and click the family icon, so the postman doesn’t return mail because they’re not listed ad mail recipients for the new address.
You’ll need the following information for this first step of six:
- First Name
- Middle Name/Initial
- Last Name
- Suffix
- Email address (and to confirm it twice)
- Phone number
- Previous address information
Step 2: What type of move
With step two, there are two types of moves: permanent and temporary. Most moves are permanent, which means you’ll more than likely be living at that residence for more than 6 months. If you’ve bought a house from Offerpad, go ahead and click that permanent move box because we’re assuming you got a stellar deal and love your new home.
After selecting what type of move you’re doing, the USPS address change online form will then ask you when they should start forwarding your mail. This is really beneficial as if you’re building a new home or not closing escrow for another 30 days or so, you can let the USPS service be ahead of the curve and they’ll automatically start sending your mail to the proper address promptly upon move-in to your new residence. At this step, you’ll need to know your new address information, and there is also a checkbox to determine if your new home was built within the last 6 months.
Pro Tip: If you’re not moving into your new house for a short amount of time, you can elect for Informed Delivery which is a free service from the USPS that allows you to digitally preview, track, and manage your mail and package deliveries.”
Step 3: Information verification
This may be the easiest part of the online USPS address change form, but also one of the most important parts – this is where you need to take a minute and actually review all of the information you included within the form. If you accidentally entered any incorrect information, the United States Postal Service is going to use the information you provided and send your mail to the exact place to where you submit.
Step 4: Identity verification
Since you’re not able to show a teller your identification card, in order to verify your identity online with the USPS, you’ll need to select the address on file which is associated with your debit or credit card. If your credit or debit card is not associated with your home address, there is an option to ‘Enter a different address’ which should match the address on the card and allow you to verify with USPS who you say you are. This is pretty genius on USPS part if you ask us, they’re making sure no one is able to change your address without your card information. there are some shady people out there especially around the holiday season, we’d hate for you to stop getting mail because someone changed your address without your knowledge.
Step 5: Billing information
Since the USPS service successfully processes upwards of 15 million online USPS address changes per year, so the fifth step in the process is to complete the identity verification process with an online payment/fee in the amount of $1.00, from the credit/debit card that is associated with your previous address. The USPS service accepts the following types of payment:
- American Express
- Mastercard
- Visa
- Discover
Step 6: Email verification & welcome kit
Once you make your one-time, $1.00 USD payment, you’ll get an email informing that your Change of Address request has been processed. The email will confirm the details of your request with order submitted and forwarding date information. Within the email, you’ll also get a confirmation code which is 16 characters long (it will resemble a credit card number separated by hyphens). If you selected a ‘Family move,’ the primary registrant or member of the family that submitted for the address change will get a welcome kit, while the others will receive a change of address confirmation letter.
To start the USPS change of address online, go ahead and visit their website by clicking here. If you would rather print out the form and bring it into your local post office, you can download the form here. Keep in mind, changing your address online with USPS does not change your address with your other provides which may include your bank, vehicle loan, insurance, tv and internet providers, magazine subscriptions or any other physical form of mail subscription that you may have with any other companies.
