Moving to a new place is both exciting and overwhelming. While you may be excited about starting a new chapter in your life, the process of changing your address can be stressful and time-consuming. However, changing your address is an essential task as it ensures that your bills, letters, and packages are sent to your new address and not the old one. In this article, we will guide you through the three stages of changing your address when you move.
Stage One: File Your Change of Address Form With the Post Office
The first stage of changing your address after moving is to update your address with the U.S. Postal Service. This is an essential step because it ensures that your mail is forwarded to your new address for up to a year after your move. You can update your address with the Postal Service by visiting their website or going to a local post office. You will need to pay a small fee to change your address, which is worth it to prevent missing essential mail and documents such as bank statements, bills, and tax documents.
Stage 2: Update All Your Service Providers That You Moved
Before you begin the actual process of changing your address, you must gather all the necessary information. This includes your new address, phone number, and email address. You must also make sure you have a list of all the companies and institutions that need to be notified of your address change. This includes banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, utilities, and other service providers. Additionally, you must have your identification documents such as driving license, passport, and social security card ready.
Once you have gathered all the necessary information, it's time to start notifying all of the companies associated with your current address. This includes utility companies, banks, credit card companies, subscription services, and any other business for which you currently have an account. It’s important to contact each company individually and provide them with your new address information so that their records are updated correctly and to ensure that your bills, letters, and packages are sent to your new address. Remember, postal mail forwarding ends before you know it and some classes of mail, like catalogs and subscriptions don't get forwarded at all!
Stage 3: Update Your Contacts
The final stage of changing your address is updating your contacts. These include your friends, family, colleagues, and anyone who regularly communicates with you via mail or email. You can do this by sending them a change of address card, an email, or by making a personal phone call. It's important to do this as soon as possible after your move to avoid missing out on any important communication. The first stage of changing your address after moving is to update your address with the Postal Service. This is an essential step because it ensures that your mail is forwarded to your new address for up to a year after your move. You can update your address with the Postal Service by visiting their website or going to a local post office. You will need to pay a small fee to change your address, which is worth it to prevent missing essential mail and documents such as bank statements, bills, and tax documents. It is important to note the postal mail forwarding only lasts up to one year.
Other Change of Address Options
Of course, we recommend using AddressWizard. For a 1-time fee of $49.95, our team updates everyone for you. We'll file your change of address form with the Post Office, update all your companies for you, and you can even send customized moving announcements to your friends, family members and personal contacts. You'll save hours of time and avoid lost mail. And readers of this blog can save 20% on the cost of AddressWizard - just enter code 'Save20" at checkout.
For the DIYers in the crowd, we prepared a great change of address checklist to organize the entire process and to make sure you don't miss notifying anyone and losing important mail. The checklist is online, so you can work on a little bit at a time. Just visit the AddressWizard Change of Address Checklist.
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