Got a good query regarding my post a day or so ago about getting ready to move from the US to the Philippines.  An address in the US … I had recommended you keep at least one US-based credit card with a US address, and my reader, quite properly, wanted to know … how?  Well, there are a number of good answers. 

The first question that will help you decide upon the answer that is best for you is, are you retired US military or Us DoD Civil Service?  It happens that I am, so one of the easiest ways to deal with mail from the US is then to use the joint US Postal service/US military AFO/FPO system.  This is provided to retirees in the Philippines as a courtesy by the several Retired Affairs Offices in the Philippines, here are the web sites of several: RAO Clark, RAO Manila , RAO Subic  and all of those offices have satellite locations scattered across the Philippines.  mail can be delivered to virtually any Philippine address via express service (fees apply), or held for pick up at the main offices.

I have one US credit card which uses my retired APO address for billing, so I can always be pretty sure I’m going to get important information from them.  This will not serve as a way to use the credit card for shopping … you can not receive any sort of merchandise via the APO/FPO system, but I keep this card for two main reasons … medical emergencies and emergency air fare, if something should come up in a big hurry.  because I made sure the company knows where I live and because I use the card every 60 days or so, I can be pretty sure it will work for me in an emergency.  otherwise I leave it alone.  As with banking institutions, some card companies refuse to deal with overseas customers, so this is essentially a long-lead time step … you need to find the card or card that will suit you and your life style before you make the move.

OK, ok, I know, many of you are not retired military, so what am I going to propose for you?  fear mot, there are some good answers.  Relatives.

Hmm, don’t know if that’s a good answer for everyone, but it works really well for me.  I am fortunate enough to have a wonderful son back in the old home state of Colorado and he kindly lets me use his street address for another of my US-based cards.  He also receives mail for me that is not addressed to my APO address, opens and shreds most of it … 99% junk mail … you can not believe how much mail you get everyday in the US that you really do not need.  For the rare item he thinks might be important … especially checks from some of my US Internet business partners who haven’t gotten on the on-line bandwagon, he drops them in a envelope and sends it off to my APO address …takes two weeks or less from his hand to mine and the cost is the same as domestic mail, plus the very small fee I pay the RAO folks to have it couriered right to my door.  Works out pretty well.

I have a very kind sister-in-law in Florida who sends Balikbayan boxes regularly to my in-laws here in Marilao,so if my wife or I have something we need that we can only find in a US store, we have it shipped to her sister to go into the next outbound box.  Works out pretty well for me.

There are some people out there 9and often for good reason) who are already fuming, I bet, because they have no relatives handy for these tasks, or do not want their relatives involved.  That’s certainly a valid concern.  (remind me sometime to tell you about the bright spark of hope I knew who used to live in the Philippines and prevailed upon his ex-wife in the US to handle his mail   Long story, but I digress).  Address the problem with no relatives involved:

Fortunately, there are a number of reliable, not too expensive companies in the US who provide essentially the same service.  They provide a street address you can have your mail sent to )by the way, don’t use a post office box, UPS, FedEx, etc. won’t deliver to them).  A simple address change with your credit company gets the card billing there as well.  When I started writing this article I went looking and I found the business has mushroomed since last year when I last looked.  here are just a few sample services, there are many to chose from:

• Access USA Here’s a company, physically located in Florida, which provides a street address, forwards mail, receives and forwards packages and pretty much does everything you would need to maintain a presence in the US while living in the Philippines.  The link I furnished opens on their rates page, seems pretty reasonable to me.  This company comes recommend to me by a friend who has used them for nearly 5 years now, so they seem pretty reliable and established.
• USA2Me.com This is another service, physically located in Texas which provides a street address, forwards mail to you or discards it, at your direction and will even open important mail at your request and scan it to their web site so you can see it almost instantly.  They have tons of other services as well and as you can see from the page I linked to, their fees are reasonable.

There are tons more companies to evaluate,a simple Google search will turn up pages of them.  Chose the one that is best for you.  As a parting thought, think about how much mail your really need.  The recent US tax rebate program is a good example.  I knew what I was supposed to get, I file my taxes electronically to direct deposit in my primary US bank, so on the date the IRS said my rebate was going to be sent out, I checked my bank and presto, it was there.  They have since sent at least three more pieces of paper about the program, but for what treason?  Beats me, except some clerk had to get paid to monitor the machine sending out the explanation.  How much explanation do I need for a simple bank deposit?  They could have rebated me $1250 instead of $1200 if they hadn’t wasted all the paper, postage and time.

While I was getting ready to write this article I came across two more paper statements I am getting currently, and canceled them.  There is nearly nothing that has to be done via paper mail any more and a simpler life is certainly a better one.

Next topic … keeping in touch by phone and fax.

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