Using Boat as Home Address

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by GaryMayo

If you are claiming as an address, somewhere you really do not live, example, a sister's house, that would be actionable in the feds eyes. It would be cause for prosecution if they get riled up over something. I would rather list where I am, than pull a fast one and try to get by. If you have shore power, and have a one year lease, how is that any different than hook ups and a lease at a trailer park?

As I mentioned above, it will definitely work but you need the marina's cooperation and most don't want to be a mail drop.

[Kettlewell]

If you have shore power, and have a one year lease, how is that any different than hook ups and a lease at a trailer park?

That might work for you in your state, but what would you do if you don't have those things, like many fulltime cruisers?

[bottomend]

please note, some credit card companies know P.O.BOX ADDRESSES whether they are ups franchises or MAILBOXES ETC. therefore if your waiting for the opportune time to jack your cards and declare bankruptcy you should beware as most banks/crtedit card lenders will immediately reduce your limits to say 500 usd credit/cash limit. just a warning to those thinking of a shopping spree followed by declaring personal bankruptcy. know them that did that been thaere. cheers

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by bottomend

please note, some credit card companies know P.O.BOX ADDRESSES whether they are ups franchises or MAILBOXES ETC. therefore if your waiting for the opportune time to jack your cards and declare bankruptcy you should beware as most banks/crtedit card lenders will immediately reduce your limits to say 500 usd credit/cash limit. just a warning to those thinking of a shopping spree followed by declaring personal bankruptcy. know them that did that been thaere. cheers

Very well said but I think I get the idea. I doubt many here with cruising boat will be contemplating that route.

[Kettlewell]

I do not plan on declaring bankruptcy or credit card fraud, but I have found that you pretty much have to have a legitimate street residence address to get a credit card, bank account, insurance card, drivers license, car registration, etc. The last time I went to get a bank account, a few years ago, it was pretty ridiculous. It was a small local bank where I have had accounts since I was a child--it was the first place I ever opened an account back in the 1960s. The president of the bank was my wife's babysitter when she was little. I'm pretty sure everybody in my family has an account there. It is a small town of 25,000 people. I've been out to dinner recently with the bank president. I know most of the bank officials and many of the tellers. They were very apologetic, but I still needed to provide original utility bills, etc. to open a new account. Real ID rules and all that.

[hellosailor]

Kettlewell-
From the wiki URL you supplied, states specifically DO NOT have to comply with the RealID Act beyond putting a line on the dl saying it does not comply"
"After 2011, "a Federal agency may not accept, for any official purpose, a driver's license or identification card issued by a state to any person unless the state is meeting the requirements" specified in the REAL ID Act. The DHS will continue to consider additional ways in which a REAL ID license can or should be used for official federal purposes without seeking the approval of Congress before doing so. States remain free to also issue non-complying licenses and IDs, so long as these have a unique design and a clear statement that they cannot be accepted for any Federal identification purpose."

Now, if anyone in Congress was half as smart as Teddy Roosevelt, they could force states to honor a federal driver's license, and offer drivers a carrot to convert to one. Of course that would raise the ruckus about how we're not the USSR and shouldn't require domestic passports, but since AlQueda's victory on 9/11, that's a moot point.

[Hudson Force]

Times have changed! After Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK it became a requirement to have a street address before obtaining a PO Box, but that was difficult to enforce before the computer age. We have used relative's addresses; we have used marina addresses; we have used post office boxes; and we have used a mail service. When our children were in public school the student placement office placed the ficticious address, "#1 St. Johns River" on therir report cards. Back when there was a uniform phone book we were listed in the book as "Yacht Aythya" with no added address. We had our 1980 census questionaire dropped in our dinghy left at the dock while we were off sailing for the week. For the last 11 years of our 41 years living aboard and cruising we have used St. Brendans Isle without any complications.

[hellosailor]

Gary, you've already got one. No SSN? Can't apply for a job or a bank account, among other things.

Despite the rather simple and clear language in the Social Security Enabling Act, which says that number cannot be used for anything except SS purposes, Congress has decided that it has to be used for anything and everything.

[GaryMayo]

Originally Posted by CaptForce

.........After Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK ......

???????????????

[GaryMayo]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Gary, you've already got one. No SSN? Can't apply for a job or a bank account, among other things.

Despite the rather simple and clear language in the Social Security Enabling Act, which says that number cannot be used for anything except SS purposes, Congress has decided that it has to be used for anything and everything.

Years ago, I had a supervisors job inside a major telephone LD company. The company had participated in selling lottery tickets from Ireland. Only using their LD lines. Turns out that was a major no no, because they knew what the lines were being used for.

One day, out of the blue, every government agency ever thought of, raided the place. Hundreds of swat type officers hit every door on the business at the same time. One thing they wanted from everyone, was ID, including SS Cards. I advised my people, they did not have to furnish that number to anyone outside the SS Administration. That riled the feds big time, but they backed down, and dropped that request. Today, it is within their rights to ask for your SSN, as well as your shoe size, a list of everyone you have ever kissed, your DNA, and your first born child. We have no rights anymore. None.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ivY...e_gdata_player

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by GaryMayo

???????????????

'lots of question marks, but no question so I'll just take a guess. Lee Harvey Oswald purchased his rifle that was used to shoot JFK in 1963 by a catalogue and had it delivered to a PO Box with no associated address. When this was discovered the regulation was set in place that all applicants for a PO Box must provide a physical street address. This was almost forty years before the Homeland Security regulations. Sure, the requirement has more teeth with computer use, but it was present long ago.

[captjeanette]

I can see many problems with these regulations. What about kids getting their license for the first time? They probably won't have utility bills, credit cards, etc. Or how about people who share a house? The utility bill usually only comes in one person's name.
I imagine that there will need to be changes made at this thing goes into effect.

[Greenhand]

Originally Posted by captjeanette

I can see many problems with these regulations. What about kids getting their license for the first time? They probably won't have utility bills, credit cards, etc. Or how about people who share a house? The utility bill usually only comes in one person's name.
I imagine that there will need to be changes made at this thing goes into effect.

Utility bills are only one form of Proof, not the only form - leases, government mail, affidavit from a parent, etc can also be used.

[Kettlewell]

By the way, I do not raise this Real ID issue as an anti-government rant but rather to alert folks that they need to do some research and homework as to how to best deal with this new reality before heading off cruising into the wild blue yonder or if you are contemplating living aboard.

Sometimes it just comes down to who you get at the DMV and how you deal with them. I had a problem establishing my address eons ago when I first moved aboard a boat in Newport, RI, back in the early 1980s. But, of course my wife, who always charms everyone, convinced someone at DMV to simply put down her address as "Yacht Southerly, Newport Harbor, RI 02840" on her driver's license, which she had for many years. Makes sense really, but these days that probably wouldn't work most places.

[Teknav]

Ever thought of getting a T.W.I.C., from the federal gov't (Homeland Security - US). If you have a clean background, you can get one after a 15 min interview and a two-week wait for processing. Bring to your local office your passport, driver's license and your social security card. Expect to be photographed and fingerprinted. There's a $125 fee for this ID card; good for 5 years. This card can clear you through security to the moon, once you get it.