How to get a bank account if you are technically homeless?

June 23, 2019 12:53 PM

My friend has no fixed residence, and either couchsurfs with friends or stays in AirBNB places in NYC. He is the happiest person I know, and all his possessions fit in his backpack. But - his bank found out that the address he gave them was a UPS mailbox and not an actual address, and terminated his account. This has introduced an element of sadness to his otherwise happy life. How can he get an account?

The Patriot act is involved here, apparently it would help terrorists if homeless people were able to have bank accounts, although the specific mechanisms of that are beyond my simple comprehension. Please don't explain that part to me, I have no interest in it.

He wants to be able to have a bank account where direct deposits can be deposited (he has a part time job), he wants to be able to draw on those funds with a debit card, and he wants to be able to deposit checks at ATMs. He does not want to give a friend's address as his own, although he has friends who would let him do this (like me). He says that the address he gives the bank will have to match his state ID, which also apparently shows the UPS box as his address, which is potentially another issue we will have to fix, if true.

Things we are considering:
1) he can register as an LLC and open a business account with a UPS box address - but maybe he needs a residential address to register as an LLC? Maybe this won't work either.
2) he can talk to a homeless shelter or church and they can let him use their address - but he hates organized religion and does not want to think of himself as homeless, either.

How can he get a bank account?

posted by Vatnesine to Law & Government (7 answers total)

Was the UPS box just listed as a regular address, like “155 East 96th Street, #345” or as “Name, P.O Box xxx”? If it was the latter, that may have been the problem. I’ve used my UPS address, which is rendered as a regular address, for my bank and credit card addresses for 20 years or so; the only problem I’ve ever had was when my mortgage lender wanted me to explain why my residence address was different from my bank address.
posted by holborne at 1:38 PM on June 23, 2019 [2 favorites]

Fulltime RVers are a good resource for establishing residence, mail services, etc. Escapees is a huge forum, I'd suggest checking there for the latest info.
posted by Lyn Never at 1:40 PM on June 23, 2019 [9 favorites]

So I would ask at some local banks or CUs and explain it as though he's a full-time RVer or lives on a sailboat or something. He should absolutely not imply or convey that he's homeless/couchsurfing; I think that's just asking for some bank officer to find a technicality to deny him an account. Living in an RV or on a sailboat full-time is respectable in a way that couchsurfing isn't--I'd encourage him to use this to his advantage. (Also, I personally see no ethical problem with lying about this, since it's only necessary because of other people's shittiness.)

The lower-tech and more direct solution is just to find a friend with a stable address who is okay with having their address used and receiving his mail. As long as it's a residential address, it probably won't be questioned. And it's not like--short of hiring a P.I. to follow him around--the bank can verify he's not living there.

N.B. it doesn't matter whether a mailbox place has an explicit "BOX XYZ" in the address. There are databases you can buy which will tell you whether addresses are 'real' or PO boxes, even private ones. There's a constant cat-and-mouse game going between mail-forwarding services that offer residential-seeming addresses, and the services that try to comprehensively list them so companies (for whatever reason) can deny service to them. Any commercial mailbox provider is likely to be eventually detected and get his account terminated.
posted by Kadin2048 at 1:54 PM on June 23, 2019 [6 favorites]

Here is an article on the website of a CMRA that explains what’s going on. Apparently they have come up with their own workaround, which might be worth considering.
posted by adamrice at 2:36 PM on June 23, 2019 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: His UPS box looks like a normal apartment address to me, something along the lines of :
123 Fake Street #456
New York NY 12345

We don't know how they discovered this was a mailbox rather than a house, it is not easily identifiable as such just by looking at it.
posted by Vatnesine at 4:50 PM on June 23, 2019

As adamrice's link to virtualpostmail.com says, most banks will still send your correspondence to a PO box or UPS box. It's just that they also need a "real" address on their records.

So chances are if your friend can use your address or some other friend's "real" address as the physical location, then he can have all statements etc sent to a mailing address which can be his regular UPS box.

Worth checking out, anyway.
posted by flug at 4:53 PM on June 23, 2019 [3 favorites]

I used this place for a real street address while full time RV living, so equally no fixed abode. I have had zero issues with it: https://travelingmailbox.com

Great service - they will scan mail for you or forward it and (for a small fee) will deposit any cheques thatcher's get mailed to you.

This sounds more like a bank issue than a mailbox issue though, from the look of the address he had. Change banks first, is my guess. Maybe a credit union that has an app you can pay cheques in with so you avoid needing the ATM network so much?
posted by Brockles at 2:39 AM on June 24, 2019