SD mail forwarding

[Iroam607]

Leaving SOON to Soiux Falls SD to get my residency. The more I look into mail forwarding services, the more I'm confused. Any help would be appreciated. I'm going full time and will be moving around. Thanks - Jerry

[Kirk W]

We will do all that we can to help. I suggest that you begin by reading the article, The Issues of Domicile to help understand what is important. If you are a member of Escapees RV Club you can use their South Dakota Services and if you are not you might want to consider becoming a member. As to other questions, if you are more specific about what you are asking I am sure someone here can help.

[Iroam607]

Thanks for your response AND your service which allows us to roam this great country

[sandsys]

When we went full time in 2008 we domiciled in Sioux Falls but, if I was doing it now, I would go on to Rapid City to the one that has a campground where you "could" actually live. Having that "real" address apparently helps in today's world.

Pa attention, though, to medical insurance. Blue Cross of South Dakota has a reputation for not playing well with others.

Linda Sand

[Iroam607]

Thanks for your response. I'm not sure what you mean regarding the "real address". And what effect that has. I guess I thought I could do the same in Sioux Falls. Not sure how the health insurance is going to work. I retired from my electrical union but I believe I'm mandated to carry there Blue Cross policy till I get Medicare. Which is another year off

[Kirk W]

37 minutes ago, Iroam607 said:

I retired from my electrical union but I believe I'm mandated to carry there Blue Cross policy till I get Medicare. Which is another year off

I suggest that you contact them first to see if you moving to SD and a mail service address will impact your coverage. It might not but you need to be sure. 

[Iroam607]

I'll call the hall tomorrow. Thankfully I'm in pretty good shape so far 🙏

[sandsys]

2 hours ago, Iroam607 said:

Thanks for your response. I'm not sure what you mean regarding the "real address". And what effect that has. I guess I thought I could do the same in Sioux Falls. Not sure how the health insurance is going to work. I retired from my electrical union but I believe I'm mandated to carry there Blue Cross policy till I get Medicare. Which is another year off

Many financial institutions now require a street address, not just a mail box. You can't live in an office but you can live in a campground. That's why a lot of full timers use the Escapee's mail service in Livingston, TX; they give you a street address that has been approved by the courts there as a legal address.

Linda

[Kirk W]

8 hours ago, sandsys said:

That's why a lot of full timers use the Escapee's mail service in Livingston, TX; they give you a street address that has been approved by the courts there as a legal address.

It is not that simple. The federal law called the Patriot Act set up requirements for addresses for various types of financial transactions and all financial organizations in the entire country are subject to them. There are also alternatives, if the business is willing to deal with them and knows about them. The reason that Livingston financial institutions are less difficult is the fact that the large customer base from Escapees has caused it to be commonly known and used there. The Escapee mail service is on the USPS business index the same as other mail services and the issue does arise from time to time with their addresses as well. Because they have dealt with the issue manny times you can get assistance if that happens by contacting the business office.

The court case that you reference had nothing to do with the use of the address for financial transactions, only the right to vote in TX and that case was settled in 2000-2002, long before the Patriot Act (triggered by 9/11) was passed.

Edited April 27, 2023 by Kirk W
Added link to the court ruling.

[JimK]

12 hours ago, Iroam607 said:

Thanks for your response. I'm not sure what you mean regarding the "real address". And what effect that has. I guess I thought I could do the same in Sioux Falls. Not sure how the health insurance is going to work. I retired from my electrical union but I believe I'm mandated to carry there Blue Cross policy till I get Medicare. Which is another year off

You should not have any issues with a Sioux Falls mailing address.  If there was a problem, the SF mailing forwarding companies would need to move.  Next be aware that on internet forums you are likely to hear from a small minority of people who had issues or know of someone who did.  This process is really simple for the vast majority of us and the mail forwarding company should be able to provide detailed information.  

There are only a very few issues to be concerned about.  For medical coverage you need to be sure that you have a plan which is easily accepted throughout the country.  Avoid coverage which is limited to a local HMO with a limited number of providers.  When you move to a Medicare supplement do the same and avoid any HMO plans.

On rare occasions, financial institutions can be of concern.  I merely changed my mailing addresses for my existing banks and institutions.  I had no issues opening an additional account with a new bank.  My main bank was Chase.  I also opened an account with Wells Fargo since they have much better ATM/branch coverage in the western half of the country.

There is a simple procedure and sequence to make this change work flawlessly.  First setup a mailing service.  The new address needs to include the PMB number but omit "PMB".  This is not illegal but avoids raising any red flags.  Next change you mailing address for banks, financial institutions, etc.  You will need a couple of receipts/statements with this new address when you visit SD and set up residency.  You will need to update your auto and RV insurance.  I would check with the mailing company for a recommendation on picking an agent.  Contact the agent in advance and go over the various options so that can be a quick procedure when you make the move.  Deal with an independent agent so you can get policies suitable for full timers.

I recommend you also file Form 8822 to update your address with the IRS.  That is one more verification of intent.  The only major issues every likely are due to an incomplete move.  For example, if you have a house or other property in the old State, that State can try to maintain your residency so they can collect income taxes.  California and New York are known to be aggressive.  If possible make a clean break and avoid any disputes.

[Iroam607]

Getting Excellent input. Thank- You to all. Grrrr and yes i am LEAVING NEW YORK STATE

[Kirk W]

1 hour ago, JimK said:

The new address needs to include the PMB number but omit "PMB".  This is not illegal but avoids raising any red flags.

The USPS regulations state that users of any private mail service should use either PMB or # just before the box number, but I have never heard of anyone having any issues with enforcement. I used PMB 621 for many years and never had a single problem. 

It has been suggested that when you leave any state that has a state income tax you should promptly file a partial year tax return to sever the ties with the state revenue department. I have known several people who did so and never had a problem but if you do not the state of NY might challenge if you really left. 

[Blues]

On 4/26/2023 at 6:48 AM, Iroam607 said:

Leaving SOON to Soiux Falls SD to get my residency.

How soon?  If you want to be able to vote, South Dakota has a new law that becomes effective that will eliminate the ability to register to vote if you stay just a couple of days there while you set up your domicile--you can set up domicile in that amount of time but registering to vote will have different requirements.

Also, even if you do manage to get registered to vote, the Secretary of State in South Dakota campaigned on denying fulltime RVers the right to vote in South Dakota.  The new law clearly applies to people newly registering to vote, but there's no reason to be certain it won't be applied when "checking" voter rolls in the future.

But if you don't care about voting, you can still easily domicile in South Dakota, just like always.  As others have noted, if health coverage is important to you for the year before you get Medicare, look carefully at the Blue Cross policy your union provides.  If it includes "Blue Card" access, you should have access to Blue Cross's nationwide network of providers.  If it doesn't, you won't.  You'll have to consult your policy. 

Or, actually, do you have a current Blue Cross ID card?  Look on the front of the card, probably on the bottom right.  See if there's a "suitcase" logo, which is a rectangular box with a half-circle on top (looks like a suitcase).  If you have a suitcase, is there a PPO in the rectangle?  Or is it empty?  Or does it have something else in the rectangle?

[2gypsies]

Here's an article on South Dakota's voting bill which may affect RVers:

https://dakotafreepress.com/2023/03/24/noem-reduces-freedom-of-rv-voters/

[Fireball969]

I am currently using Florida as my domicile using the Good Sam mail forwarding service and ran into a big issue when setting up my IRA with Charles Schwab. The forwarding service was not acceptable as an address. We’ve been full time for six years. We ended up using our sons address to satisfy the patriot act requirements. 
 

I am now looking to move to SD due to being able to register a HDT as a personal truck and not a MH in FL. A MH in FL can not have a hitch on it so I can’t pull my fifth wheel. 

[Iroam607]

OK thanks for all the input. I drove my car to Souix Falls. Just got here this afternoon. I was going to check things out here tomorrow May 1st but I think I'll just go with my origional plan and go to Rapid City. Hey I made it this far I might as well go the extra 300 🤠miles and see the sites. Who knows when I'll get back. I have a few regrets like that already. I'm going with "Americas Mailbox ". 

 WOW it was windy. Tough staying on the road. And its 80 Mph here. Not doing that fast in my rig. I want to enjoy exploring

[rpsinc]

On 4/30/2023 at 6:07 PM, Iroam607 said:

I'm going with "Americas Mailbox ". 

We have used them for many years and they have been good to work with and their service is very useful.  We plan to continue with them.

 

[ebooker]

Great discussion. My husband and I have been full-timers for more than 14 years now and domicile out of Sioux Falls. We've had no difficulty getting nor renewing our driver's licenses and had no problems initially setting up a bank account. When we changed banks about four years in, we ran into problems but found another branch (of the same bank, in the same city, oddly) that opened the account for us. I have since had difficulty with some financial accounts that can't seem to verify that I exist (! we're working to resolve that....).

Bottom line: as Kirk says, the Patriot Act has had an impact, but it varies. The reason it varies is because the Patriot Act only says a bank must be able to verify its customers' identities and know where to find those customers. How the bank does this is up to that bank (it is not codified in the Patriot Act itself, but in the corresponding Bank Act), which is where we travelers run into different ways things are done. PMB? Okay. Not okay. Depends on the bank.

Fortunately, we've stayed healthy so we haven't experienced any issues with insurance.

Best I can say is, good luck. If you run into difficulty with a bank no accepting your domicile address, try another.

Let us know how it goes!