A forwarding service redirects post from your old address to your new one for a period. It buys time and does not solve the underlying problem, which is that dozens of organisations still hold an address you no longer live at.
The window is for updating them. Treating forwarding as the solution means that when it expires, mail starts arriving at a stranger's house.
What changed in 2026
- Electronic communication reduced volume. Less post overall meant fewer senders to update and a greater risk of missing the few that matter.
- Forwarding services stayed largely unchanged. Redirection periods and exclusions remained broadly as they were.
- Identity risk got more attention. Recognition that misdirected financial post is an identity exposure.
- Address verification tightened. More services required proof of address, making updates more consequential.
Forwarding is a bridge
Set it up before you move, for as long as you can reasonably afford. It catches what you forget while you work through the list.
Then use it deliberately: every item that arrives via forwarding is a sender you have not updated. Log each one, update the sender, and the list shrinks toward zero.
That turns the forwarding period into a discovery mechanism rather than a passive service. By the time it expires, you have found everyone.
Who to update first
| Priority |
Senders |
| Highest |
Banks, cards, investment and pension providers |
| Highest |
Tax and government bodies, electoral registration |
| High |
Insurance — home, vehicle, health, life |
| High |
Employer and payroll |
| High |
Healthcare providers and pharmacy |
| Moderate |
Utilities and telecoms at the new address |
| Moderate |
Subscriptions and memberships |
| Lower |
Retailers and loyalty schemes |
The top two rows matter most because the consequences are real. An insurance policy at the wrong address can affect a claim. Missed tax correspondence has deadlines. Financial statements in a stranger's hands are an identity exposure.
Insurance deserves specific mention: policies frequently depend on where the insured property or driver is located, so an out-of-date address is not merely a communication problem but potentially a coverage one.
What does not forward
Forwarding services have exclusions, which vary by country and by service.
Commonly excluded or unreliable: bulk and unaddressed mail, some parcels and courier deliveries, mail addressed to former occupants generally, and items requiring a signature.
Parcels are the frequent gap. Courier deliveries are typically not handled by a postal forwarding service at all, which means online orders continue arriving at the old address — see package theft prevention for the related risk.
Updating delivery addresses in retailer accounts is a separate task from postal forwarding, and it is easy to overlook the ones you use rarely.
The identity risk
Post at an old address is a genuine exposure rather than an inconvenience.
Bank statements, card offers, and official correspondence in a stranger's hands provide account numbers, identifiers, and enough detail to attempt impersonation. Pre-approved credit offers are directly usable.
That is why the financial and government senders come first, and why opting out of pre-approved credit offers is worth doing regardless — alongside freezing your credit, which blocks the account fraud that misdirected mail enables.
If you have a cooperative relationship with the new occupant, asking them to return or forward anything that slips through helps. Not everyone will.
Common mistakes
- Treating forwarding as the solution. It expires.
- Not logging what arrives. Loses the discovery benefit.
- Forgetting parcel delivery addresses. Separate from postal forwarding.
- Leaving insurance addresses stale. May affect coverage.
- Not updating rarely-used accounts. They surface eventually.
- Short forwarding period. Annual correspondence needs a year to appear.
- Not securing post at the old address in the gap. Identity exposure.
FAQ
How long should I forward for?
Long enough to catch annual correspondence — a full year is the safe answer, because some senders only write once a year.
Does forwarding cover everyone in the household?
Typically it is set up per person or per surname. Check that everyone at the address is covered, including anyone with a different name.
What about mail for previous occupants?
Return it to the sender marked as no longer at this address rather than discarding it. That prompts them to update their records.
Should I tell everyone at once?
Working through the priority list over a few sessions is more reliable than attempting everything in one sitting and losing track.
Where to go next
For setting up services at the new address, read utility setup checklist. For the delivery side, package theft prevention, and for the identity protection that matters during a move, credit freeze vs lock.