If you live on a street in which the highest number is, for example, 1240, addresses up to 1299 will still be valid according to the USPS software. Ditto for your block - if the highest house number on your block is 632, all numbers up to 699 will still be recognized as valid. 99 percent of the time, house numbers in towns and cities never go higher than xx60, so using a higher number is an easy way to fool the system.

If you live in a suburb or near a city, see if your junk mail is addressed to that city instead of your actual town. I once lived in a small town 10 miles from a medium-sized city, and my junk mail all had the name of the city, as that was the USPS's "preferred" name. Usually, these names are only used by bulk mailers who correlate their addresses with the USPS databases. If this is the case, you can use that city name with no trouble - or even better, see if any streets in your town have identical names to unrelated streets in the larger city.

So if you lived at 1240 Main Street in Smallville, you could easily put 1299 Main Street in Bigger City as your address. Such an address will almost certainly not exist, you will eliminate the roadblock in verifying your "address", and the nosy company will get what they deserve when the USPS bills them for all the junk mail ending up in the dead-letter office. :)

Looking for a simple state to just file some simple forms and following some simple procedures.

There's no free lunch I'm afraid, and serious attempts to separate your name from your vehicle pose a number of legal difficulties that should be carefully considered before proceeding.

Colorado uses the "Joe Smith DBA XXX LLC" on their registrations when the "affidavit of one and the same" is used, which is intended to prevent precisely what you want to do, which is keep your name off the title and DOR record. Colorado does NOT like privacy.

But, in the end they cannot require you to register the vehicle as a private vehicle owned by a person if it's company property.

They won't register it to an out-of-state address if it's intended to be used in Colorado, you must declare a valid address in the county of primary use. They WILL however allow you to put a different MAILING address on the title record from the physical address listed on the record.

You will need an actual, verifiable physical address to register the vehicle to. Their system DOES check for a valid address. The catch is that only the MAILING address needs to be constantly valid. That physical address SHOULD match any declared address for the LLC, if any. Using multiple addresses is a big red flag for the state.

Several of my vehicles are registered in Mesa County (and I'd recommend going to Grand Junction and using a satellite clerk's office in Clifton to register to a temporary, but VALID street address somewhere in Mesa County) and I use the street address of some property I once owned there, but sold to a friend. If anyone asks, he'll tell them the vehicle "lives" there. Never had anyone ask in more than 20 years.

It's agricultural property, which permits me to register a pickup truck as an agricultural vehicle, which means I don't have to get the annual emission test (which you don't need in Mesa County anyway...at the moment).

It's in a small rural town, and the County Clerk doesn't send out people to check to see if the vehicle is "garaged" at that address, they just check the county street address database to see if it's a valid address.

I then explain (if they ask, which they don't usually in Mesa County) that the truck or trailer "lives" in Mesa County, but that my MAILING address is on the Front Range, where I have my permanent home. This is fine with them, and it happens all the time in that area, where ranchers may have ranches all over the state, or people may have vacation getaways where they keep vehicles and trailers for hunting season. They are glad to get the registration fees, so they don't really care. So long as they can send the renewal notices to a valid address they are happy, so they have a remote (ghost) PO box address I use for such things. Although my actual name is attached to some vehicles, the addresses anyone can find are on the other side of the state, which provides adequate security. My true present home address is known to NO ONE but my landlord and immediate family. I even took the numbers off the house.

By going to a more remote RURAL county clerk's office to register your vehicles, you're more likely not to be confronted with some officious bureaucrat. All you need is a temporary "ghost" address in the same county. (Note that you may be flirting with a perjury charge if you lie to them, which is why I use an address that I do actually use for "storage," with my friend's permission, which gives me "plausible deniability.)

I used to register my farm vehicles in Boulder County, where my actual, legitimate ranch was, but they started demanding (without lawful authority) that I show them tax returns to prove that I was making a "profit" on my ranching operations in order to qualify for the reduced-price ag plates that don't require the emissions test.

The clerks in Boulder were officious twits who didn't like farmers and didn't think they should get the emission exemption or reduced rate, so they threw up all sorts of bogus obstacles to registering ag vehicles.

I actually had to make a written appeal to the County Clerk citing the Colorado statutes that authorized me to have ag plates in one case and threaten a lawsuit.

In one case (pre-privacy plan), they disallowed my Chevy Blazer as an ag vehicle because they said it wasn't suitable for carrying "produce or farm equipment" and that it was a "recreational vehicle" not a "farm truck", even though I used it for farm stuff all the time...including fence maintenance. I had to prove that the cargo capacity of the back of the Blazer was larger than the cargo bed of a compact pickup truck's open bed, which was an allowed vehicle. Then I had to remove the back seat and "permanently" render the vehicle incapable of having a back seat, which I did by welding plates over the quick-detach mounting points in the bed...which I immediately removed, and replaced the seat, as soon as the Clerk had personally inspected the vehicle and certified it as a "farm truck."

After that, I simply registered all my ag vehicles (trucks and trailers) in Mesa County, where I had a second ranch, and where they didn't give a rip about being obstructive to farmers, because farming is a huge segment of the economy out there.

The key to getting around officious bureaucrats is to KNOW THE LAW, inside out, and be able to cite it, chapter and verse, when you have to challenge some minimum-wage data-entry drone's misreading of policy, and to select your venue carefully to avoid officious nitwits.

Of course, the downside of this "activism" was that everybody in the clerk's motor vehicle section knew me on sight. Then again, my family was personal friends with the County Clerk for many years, so privacy wasn't really possible.

Now that I've moved, I cut those cords and use much more caution about becoming "notorious" in my new community. My new rule is "don't defecate where you sleep," which means that my privacy stuff gets done anywhere OTHER than in the community where I live, to avoid any notariety or controversy. I mind my own business and keep to myself, and never, ever tell anyone in town my real name, not even my doctor.

Pretty soon you'll hear about how only child pr0n traffickers or criminals are the ones who obsess over encryption in an attempt to demonize anyone who still values their privacy. It also wouldn't be surprising if encryption software as well as encrypted systems or communications were outright banned at some point in our Brave New World in the name of security theater.

Submitted Link #1: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/17/google_fac...

... If I have something private to send, I use the U.S. mail. Highly recommended.

One of the issues pertaining to this is that whatever county, in the state of Wisconsin, that I file the petition, it'll show up on the states online public court records and link it to the previous name. Is there a way to avoid this from tracing back to the previous name?

Another issue I'm concerned about is when I have children and get married. Should I pass down my changed last name on to my family or stick with the previous last name, which I consider important to me. Sort of a personal preference but thought you may of had some advice or objections to towards this.

Thanks for the great insight from your book.

Submitted Link #1: http://wcca.wicourts.gov/ ...

... As the for children's last name, you alone must decide. (I added http:// because without it, your link will not work.)

Colorado REALLY wants that title and registration money, and can be hard-nosed about evading it.

That being said, Colorado will allow you to title a vehicle in the name of an LLC, but if it's your LLC, and you try to do the paperwork, they require you to fill out an "affidavit of one-and-the-same", which is a sworn document that links the LLC to you. That link goes into the state's files.

The only way to avoid this is to use an "employee" nominee to do the paperwork. This takes a couple of steps and some letter writing, but if one takes the time to do it right, it's all perfectly legal.

Here's how I do it: The LLC "CFO" (who can be another temporary nominee you, the "CEO" have appointed to the post by letter) provides a letter (preferably notarized) that the second nominee is legally empowered to perform title paperwork for the company.

I give mine (a good friend) the titular position of "Transportation Manager." She uses her maiden name to do the paperwork, which is lawful. My CFO is her husband, who uses his real name.

The "Transportation Manager" does the paperwork, appending name or initials if asked to do so, in order not to raise any suspicions. This information does not appear on the title, but stays in the paperwork.

To keep it legal, as soon as the "Transportation Manager" completes the title work, the CEO discharges the Transportation Manager using another official letter, thanking her for her service to the company.

Then the CFO resigns his/her position as CFO (or in my case, does not resign, as I may need him to do it again sometime), using a "certified letter of completion" such as the one Rosie provides with your NM LLC paperwork, indicating that her authority to act in the name of the LLC is officially over.

All this "hiring" and "firing" paperwork goes into the LLC file, to be retained in the event of difficulty with the state.

The upshot is that the paperwork for the title has been done according to Colorado law, which requires that individuals doing such paperwork be properly and accurately identified. The vehicle is titled in the name of the LLC without any link to me, the actual owner of the NM LLC.

The loophole is that Colorado law does NOT require an LLC owner (me) to report changes in employee status to the state, nor does it require that persons doing title work remain as employees for any specific period of time, but it DOES require that the transactions with the state be "legitimate," which means that I must actually, legally appoint people to work for me for the purposes of registering vehicles.

The key is that the paper trail shows that AT THE TIME THE TITLE WORK WAS COMPLETED, that the individuals doing the work were identified,legitimately-authorized persons.

The purpose of the law is to prevent FRAUD in motor vehicle titles. So long as you keep the paperwork in order, all you are doing is preserving personal privacy, which is lawful, not committing title fraud. The state just has a right, and a need, to make sure that things are done according to the law. The letter of the law.

Colorado WANTS to connect some person to every LLC, so they know who to come after, but sufficient loopholes still exist to lawfully permit personal privacy by using a NM LLC when it comes to vehicle ownership.

Remember, every large corporation out there has vehicles registered to it, and while some employee's name is in the state records as the person who did the title work, nothing prevents employee turnover and the state can't possibly keep track of such turnover.

So, we take advantage of that common business practice by deliberately "turning over" our LLC employees as a way to preserve privacy. The same thing can be accomplished by simply hiring a law firm to represent the LLC and do the paperwork. Their paralegals will actually do the work, and the state knows who they are, but attorney-client privilege prevents the state from finding out who the owner of the NM LLC actually is. This is significantly more expensive, however.

If you title your vehicle in Montana, to a Montana LLC owned by your NM LLC, you can avoid having to pay Colorado's outrageous licensing and registration fees, though your Montana plates may raise some eyebrows and pose a risk that Colorado will scrutinize you more closely than you might like.

There are companies in Montana dedicated to creating and being the registered agents for people buying expensive RV's in Montana to avoid sales and registration taxes nationwide. People can save hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes that way.

On another related note, for those who may have, or be considering a Colorado LLC, there has been a recent spate of "corporate identity theft" perpetrated as a result of the fact that changing registered agents or other corporate officers in the Secretary of State's on-line records DOES NOT require a password.

Identity thieves will change the name and address of various people in the state record, then apply for credit. The credit company will issue credit based on a search of the state files, and the true owners of the company get their credit besmirched as a result, requiring thousands of dollars and much time to correct.

The SOS says it would cost too much to institute a password system, and recommends that companies sign up for their email alert system that sends out an email any time information is changed on the account. So if you have a Colorado LLC, you MUST provide a current email address so such notifications find you.

J.J., I would like to know from Rosie if New Mexico likewise allows on-line changes to registered agents. Because NM does NOT record the names of officers of an LLC, that particular threat is minimized, but it would be interesting to know if someone could deliberately redirect communications from the state, and make changes to the LLC, by means of this scam.

... I do not think NM will allow this but I'll check.

For my amusement, and to see how easily it could be done, this American just got a non-interest account at Bank of Montreal in Toronto tonight. Few questions were asked! I was in Toronto for work and made an appointment a day in advance, then went straight from work, dressed in business casual with my laptop with me. It was overall quite a pleasant experience.

The information that was asked was my name (gave my US passport and a debit card with my name on it, numbers recorded), an address for statements (US CMRA was fine and unquestioned after asking them if it was for mailings, told them my local address in Canada was temporary), a phone number (I gave them the anonymous Canadian prepaid I had picked up the night before), if I rented or owned my house, how much I paid monthly, where I worked, how long I had worked there, and what my title was.

Surprisingly missing were any questions about what I was going to use the account for, why I needed it, how long I was in Canada, or anything related to a Canadian SIN or US SSN. I chose to answer the questions I was asked truthfully, but it seems that housing/work information could be easily made up if one desired...

I walked out of this urban Toronto location in about a half an hour with a nameless debit card (they don't give starter checks anymore), some envelopes for mailing in deposits, and some literature. (Their debit cards aren't VISA/MasterCard like in the US, but do have a nice chip in them). I funded the account by using the debit card to deposit Canadian cash at a ATM some miles away.

One thing to note: the accounts have no interest, and they are also not free. To avoid monthly "plan" fees you must keep a certain monthly balance, or go with "no plan" and have no monthly fees - but be charged 65c for every debit. Additionally there are fees for foreign currency check deposits, incoming and outgoing wires, and use of non-BMO ATMs ($3 in US).

Also, be sure to use your account at least once every 6 months (even a simple small withdrawl) to ensure your account doesn't go into "dormant" status.

If anyone has questions about fees or something else that may be answered by the new account literature I just got, feel free to post.

Now I just have to think of some way that this account might be useful besides as an end of the world "US banks are failing" or "someone is after me" emergency account. Perhaps now I should read Invisible Money, I've heard it has gotten some good reviews ;)

Lights out OnStar!