USPS change of address: what it does and what it doesn’t update
File a USPS change of address at usps.com or a post office counter. It forwards most mail for about 12 months and updates nothing on your accounts. Banks, cards, utilities, insurers and subscriptions keep the old address until you change each one. File it first, then work the list.
What the USPS order covers
- Where to file
- usps.com, or any post office counter. Type the address yourself so a search ad can’t send you to a look-alike filing site.
- What it does
- Reroutes eligible mail from the old address to the new one, from the date you choose.
- What it never does
- Tell your bank, card issuers, utilities, insurers, subscriptions, the DMV or the IRS anything.
Why file with USPS anyway
It’s the safety net under everything you haven’t updated yet. Most households have 15 to 40 accounts tied to an address, and nobody updates them all on moving day. For a year, forwarding catches what you missed, and every forwarded envelope points at one more account to fix. File it a few days before the move.
What forwarding quietly skips
Some mail is marked do-not-forward: many banks won’t forward replacement cards, and government mail often goes back to the sender. Carriers other than USPS never see the order. And when forwarding ends, anything still addressed to the old place is returned or handed to whoever lives there now.
After you file: the half USPS can’t do
The accounts are yours either way. The free path is the who-to-notify checklist plus 157 account guides, including the step-by-step forwarding guide. The guided path is Movepost: it opens each account’s address page, fills your new address and moves to the next. If a paid “address change” site already charged you, read what those services cover first.
Questions people ask
Does a USPS change of address update my bank and other accounts?
No. A USPS change of address is a mail-forwarding order: it reroutes eligible mail from the old address to the new one, and it tells no company anything. Your bank, credit cards, insurers, utilities, and subscriptions keep the old address on file and keep issuing statements to it until you change each account yourself, signed in. That account-by-account half is the part USPS was never meant to cover.
How long does USPS mail forwarding last?
Standard forwarding for regular mail runs about 12 months from your start date, and magazines and newspapers forward for roughly 60 days. After that, mail sent to the old address is returned to the sender or delivered to whoever lives there now. Forwarding buys you a year to update the accounts themselves.
Where do I file a USPS change of address?
Two official places: usps.com (the online change-of-address flow) or any post office counter, in person. Those are the only two. Search ads sometimes put look-alike sites above the real one, so type usps.com directly rather than clicking an ad. There is no legitimate reason to pay a third party to file this form.
How do I avoid unofficial USPS change-of-address sites?
Use one of the two official channels: usps.com or a post office counter. Search ads can lead to look-alike filing sites, so type usps.com directly rather than relying on an ad.
Should I do a temporary or permanent USPS change of address?
Permanent is for a real move: forwarding starts, and USPS also updates the address it shares through its licensed change-of-address channels. Temporary suits stays of a few weeks up to a year (a work assignment, a semester, a renovation), and your permanent address stays on record. Either way the order only moves mail; the accounts holding your old address are a separate job.