General Rules for Address

General Addresses

Most addresses consist of a street address containing the following:

• street number
• street name
• street type
• city name (spelled out)
• state code
• postal/zip code

Include the complete address on all records; the absence of an address may cause a record to be bypassed. Do not report non-address information in the Address fields.

Examples:

• Do not report a spouse name in the Address field.
• Do not report account description terminology, such as Fraud, Bankrupt, Charge-off, etc. in the Address field.
• Slashes, dashes and periods are acceptable in the delivery address line.

For accurate reporting of addresses, refer to the U.S. Postal Service website at www.usps.com for address standards.

Use the standard postal abbreviations for state names, such as MS for Mississippi. Refer to Exhibit 12 for a complete list of State Codes. Note: The Address Indicator should be used to designate what address is being reported.

Military Addresses

The standard format for Military Addresses (APO/FPO Addresses) is:

• PSC (CMR or UNIT) NNNNN
• BOX NNNN or SHIP’S NAME
• CITY (APO/FPO), STATE (AE, AP OR AA), ZIP CODE

Currently, the largest unit number is 5 digits long.

The U.S. Postal Service designates the state code for military addresses as follows:

• AE – Armed Forces in Europe, Africa, Middle East and Canada
• AA – Armed Forces in the Americas, excluding Canada
• AP – Armed Forces in the Pacific

All domestic military mail must have the conventional street style addresses.