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bjeder's avatar
bjeder
Explorer
Aug 26, 2015

Getting credit card with no residential address

We have been full time for a little over a year and loving it. I recently realized that my husband is the primary on our credit cards so I applied for a new card in my name. No problem with credit but the company would not give me a card without a verifiable residential address. Our mail forwarding address will not work. They say it is due to the Patriot Act. Anyone else experience this and any suggestions?

29 Replies

  • Thanks for the responses. We do pay off all credit card debt each month. Have never paid interest. It turns out I am not a joint owner of either card we use. If something happens to my husband the credit card company said they will close the account immediately. I may try to get the card to be joint. I just don't want to risk them closing the account now.
  • Yes, the Patriot act does hold lenders to a higher standard for customer verification. Credit cards are very often used to illicitly move money and fund nefarious conduct. As a practical matter, someone living in a post office box is going to be very hard to collect from should they decide to stop paying. Combine the two and getting credit without an address is going to be difficult. And using the street address for the PMB company isn't going to help. All bank software is sophisticated enough to ferret out those addresses as being mail forwarding services. Like it or not, it is a problem full time RVers have to live with.
  • You may be able to change the primary on one of your current CC's if it's a joint card.

    We did this recently so we could both get our FICO scores monthly. It's usually free only for the primary card holder.
  • goreds2 wrote:
    Please tell me with a credit card, you will pay it off each month. :) (Sorry off topic)


    Not only off topic, but I would say that it is none of your business what she does with the card. Since we are adults here, one should expected to be treated as an adult, not lectured to by the "do as I say" squad. :R

    Barb
  • Please tell me with a credit card, you will pay it off each month. :) (Sorry off topic)
  • Some will issue without this Patriot Act baloney. Find another card.
  • My wife did the same thing two years ago. No problem. Did you put down PMB on the application? She put down the street address and then Apt.#***
  • Did you inquire where you bank? Or are you applying for a CC from other source.