When you move to a new home, you have a moving checklist as long as your arm. It sometimes feels that you are spinning so many plates that you’re about to drop one at any moment. One thing’s for sure, don’t forget to change your address.
It seems pretty simple, right? After all, moving home is all about changing your address!
But, unless you change it officially with the important places, you could get yourself into trouble. Before you begin, make a list of all of the people and places who need your new address. Getting your hand on an address change checklist specific to Ontario is a great start. In fact, don’t forget banks, loans, insurances, credit cards and pensions. When money is at stake, it’s best to deal with these first.
Problems you may encounter if you do not change your address
Missing Important Mail
Think about why you need to change your address. I’m betting it’s because you don’t want to miss any important mail. Financial mail is really important in this. If you don’t change your address with your bank, loan or credit card, you might end up in a sticky situation with an unpaid bill or added interest. Moving home is expensive enough without the added stress of forking out extra just because you forgot to change your address!
Identity Theft
This is perhaps something that a lot of people don’t even think about when moving home but for would-be criminals, someone moving is the perfect opportunity for identity theft. After all, if someone isn’t expecting mail to land on their doorstep yet because they haven’t changed their address, then they won’t worry about something going missing in the post.
Address fraud is one of the easiest things for criminals to do. They only need your name and address to do it. Make sure you are on the ball when you move and when you change address. Look out for moving address cards to make sure that it is you who has set them up.
Could Lead to a Cancellation of the Insurance Policy or the Denial of a Claim
When you move home, you don’t necessarily take your insurance with you. Your home insurance, car insurance, and even health insurance may become invalid if you don’t change your address as soon as possible with the companies. Imagine being burgled the first night you’re in your new home but you hadn’t got round to sorting out house insurance. Or imagine your car gets stolen but it wasn’t where you stated it would be kept overnight on your insurance policy. Don’t take any risks, let them know your new address on the day you move in.
Could Lead to Fines Regarding your Driving License
Changing your address on your Ontario’s driving license is a must-do to avoid trouble and expensive fines. When you’ve gone through the expensive process of moving home, you really don’t want an added fine to pay on top. It’s pretty simple to change the address on your driving license but it’s one of those tasks many people put off and continue putting off. Make sure you don’t fall into the trap and land yourself a fine.
The Advantages of Changing Your Address Ahead of Time
As well as the many protective benefits we’ve listed above, there are other advantages to changing your address quickly when you move home.
Get Your TV and Wi-Fi Connection Set Up Right Away
With your address changed before you move, you can be sure to have everything set up as quickly as possible when you move into your new home. After a long and arduous day of hauling boxes and moving furniture, you’ll probably want to relax watching the TV on the first night in your new home.
Plan ahead with your companies so that this will be possible. By planning ahead this also gives you a chance to shop the best possible Toronto internet provider for your needs. And having your internet-ready to go on moving day will mean you can sort out all of those other address changes we talked about!
Save Money
Not only will you feel happier and more organized if you change your address ahead of time, but you’ll save money too. Doing things ahead of schedule will give you more time to negotiate deals with service providers and arrange new customer deals with your new address. You might even be able to lower some of your monthly payments like car insurance and home insurance.
Your postal code is really important when insurance companies look to insure your home or your car. In fact, it’s one of the things they take into account when looking at your risk. Moving home to a nicer and safer area will pretty much guarantee you cheaper home and car insurance.
Peace of Mind
House moves are stressful enough before you even begin to do all of the administrative tasks like changing your address. Once it’s done, however, you will feel immense relief! It’s a good idea to set yourself a day for this sort of task. Get your list together and do it all in one go. Afterwards, you will surely feel relief and peace of mind that it’s all done. You will be safe and protected knowing that the admin is out of the way and your move can go smoothly.
What to Do if You Change Your Address Temporarily?
When you move temporarily, you can use Canada Post’s Mail Forwarding Service. This process can get your personal or business mail forwarded from your usual address in Canada to anywhere of your choosing across the globe. This means that even when you move temporarily, you won’t miss important documents like licenses, tax slips, and renewals of health cards. In addition, that process saves you time since you don’t have to change your address when it’s only temporarily.
Some people who use this service do so because they relocate during renovations, take a temporary job, take an extended vacation, or manage mail for another person. A climate control storage facility can also be useful to keep your belongings safe while you find your new home.
Conclusion
Whatever your reasons for moving home and wherever you move to, you will have to sort out changing your address officially with various people and organizations. There are many advantages to doing this in a timely manner (and even before the move). Set aside some time and write yourself a list – it’s a lot easier when you have the time to get it all done at once!