The Only Change-Of-Address Checklist You Need
Moving houses is not fun. You’re a mess, the house is a mess and trying to get everything in place is certainly not fun. And forgetting to update your address on important documents is a complete nightmare! If you’re anything like us (unless you’re like Monica from F.R.I.E.N.D.S who’s always a step ahead), you could really do with a checklist of everyone you need to notify of your move. Well, looks like it’s your lucky day because we heard you! To make your life a little easier we’ve put together a checklist of documents and places that need to be notified of your change in address.
✓ Banks and financial institutions
This one is a no-brainer really. This needs to be one of the first things you do when moving houses. Update your address in the bank where you have an account and any other place you make important financial transactions. Don’t forget your investments, credit cards, loans and any insurance too!
✓ Post office
Give a forwarding address so that you continue to receive posts till you update the new address wherever required and pass on the new address to your friends and family.
✓ Workplace
Again, this needs to be one of the first places where you update your address. If your workplace does not have a centralised employee information database where you can update your address, inform the HR or your employer about the change in address and follow up with them to make sure that the update is done.
✓ Passport
Whether you’ve sold your previous house and moved to a new one, or you recently bought a house where you live now, make sure you update your passport to reflect the correct address. Failure to do so, might not immediately affect you but can pose a problem when travelling abroad. And it never hurt anyone to have an extra valid government ID with your correct information. You will need to apply for ‘Re-issue’ of your passport with the required supporting documents.
✓ Aadhaar Card
With our economy going cashless and digital, it is important that you keep your Aadhaar card up-to-date. You can read this post for more information on how to update your address on your Aadhaar card.
✓ Voters ID
As any responsible citizen knows, it’s the duty of the citizen to vote during elections and choose the nation’s leaders. You can use your Voter ID only in the constituency you currently reside in. This makes it important to update your address and be eligible to vote in the constituency you now live in.
✓ PAN Card
Another important government ID that needs to be updated with your correct address is the PAN card. You can follow the steps here to have your PAN card reflect your new address.
✓ Healthcare professionals
You MUST inform your doctor, paediatrician (if you have kids) and veterinarian (if you have pets) about your change in address. You might have them listed as emergency contacts or on your health cards and it’s important to have them know where you live in the event of an emergency.
✓ Financial and legal advisors
These are the people who can help you out in trying times. Just like healthcare professionals, you need to make sure that your financial advisor and lawyer (if any) know that you have moved residences.
✓ Subscriptions
Update your new address across all your subscriptions; magazines, newspapers, etc. You don’t want to put an end to life’s simple pleasure, do you?
✓ E-commerce sites and apps
The only thing more annoying than the trouble of relocating is realising that the pair of shoes you were dying to get your hands on has been delivered to your old address! Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Update your address on your favourite shopping and food delivery apps right away.
Don’t forget to inform your friends and family too of your change in address, just so that they know where they need to send your surprise birthday gift to! We hope this checklist makes relocating a little less painful. Do let us know if we have missed out on anything important in the comments section below.
