I have a brokerage account with Morgan Stanley.

I moved a while back, and until recently have had a house sitter at my previous residence, which was in Michigan. The Morgan Stanley statements have been going to my old address, from whence they have been forwarded to me by the house sitter.

I recently sold that house, and so need to update my address on the brokerage account.

My new residence is in a rural area. I do not have mail delivered to my house -- it goes to the small post office that services the "community", which is roughly a 400 square mile area.

When I called Morgan Stanley to update my address, the service agent told me that Morgan Stanley could not accept my post office box as my address. He said that Morgan Stanley MUST have a physical address. He said that this isn't just Morgan Stanley's policy, but that it is required by The Patriot Act.

Sweet Jebus! What a pain in the ass!

So, is what the service agent told me true? Does the Patriot Act require people who have brokerage accounts to provide a physical address to the broker? Is it in fact illegal for a stock broker to have only a post office box address on his client?

Some of you guys will know the truth of this, and can probably even explain the whys and wherefores of it. Please enlighten me?

I believe you have to provide a physical address but normally, you should be able to add a Mailing address to your account.

I used to have brokerage statements sent to a PO Box when I lived in NH, but that was many years ago. As lkdr says, I may have had to provide a physical address as well, but mail wasn't delivered there.

Many RV'ers use a mail forwarding service. I'm aware of a few in South Dakota. Mail is sent there and they send it on to you. I'll look over on RV.net when I get home later and find a few for you.

Is there a UPS Store or mail facility in your area that can receive it for you? They'll have a physical address, of course.

Yes that is part of Morgan Stanley's interpretation of the Patriot Act's Know Your Customer program. You should be able to have them mail your statements to a PO Box but you will need to give them a physical address that they can document. They may ask you for a copy of your DL as well as part of the document process.

I deal with Fidelity and one smaller firm, and both send statements, etc. to my P.O. box.

Is there a specific reason you don't want them to have your physical address? I understand not wanting to get mail delivered there, but you still have an address, correct?

Difficult for me to speak for MS but I'm in the brokerage business and we routinely collect a mailing address (which may be a PO Box) and a physical address (which cannot be a PO Box).

My guess is you spoke with some back office dweeb at the end of a bad day when he/she wanted to act like they were in control.

I have MS and they badger me monthly to switch from a mailed statement to paperless. So You probably already know but I'm sure they would be happy to email it to you. Plus you can go online and view your statement. You have to watch MS closely, I speak from experience.

Call your guy at MS (financial advisor) and tell him you need it fixed. I suspect he'll be happy to take care of it.

Or call his assistant, even better. If I want to make any changes or get a one time withdrawal or whatever, she's the one who ends up doing this kind of thing anyway.

I use Schwab and I get a e-mail whenever a new statement is available and I download it as a PDF.

Lots safer than the mail, in my mind.

quote:

Originally posted by TomV:
I use Schwab and I get a e-mail whenever a new statement is available and I download it as a PDF.

Lots safer than the mail, in my mind.

That's what I do with my Fidelity accounts. I don't even print them out but rather save them to a secure volume. Fidelity keeps them available for years.

I don't know anything about the patriot act but I have my brokerage accounts with Schwab and I'm on electronic delivery of all statements. I also have an account managed by Fisher Investments at Schwab and I had to sign some additional papers in order to go electronic delivery.

All this to say, why not go electronic delivery? You can always print it out.

It is a Patriot Act requirement. I run an AML Department for a brokerage firm. CIP process requires them to have your physical address. However you can have an additional address that your mail can be sent to.

Some financial institutions have had a similar policy for many years.

When we lived in Illinois we never had USPS deliveries made to the house, we used a PO box in the closest town.

We used an address in the following format;
MR & MRS Old Roger
Post Office Box xxxx
North Simpson Road
Someplace, IL 61947

The address was good enough for UPS and Fed-X deliveries to the house but the mail all stayed at the post office.

Thanks, gentlemen! Very much appreciate your responses and input!

You must have a physical address on account to prove residence but you may select any mailing/delivery address you like to include po boxes and electronic delivery.