There come situations in life when you might be asked to provide your address history, such as filling out a new job application or looking for housing. If you don’t already have the list of your previous addresses, there are a few ways to help you find this information.
Below are tips and strategies to aid you in finding a previous home address and recovering your address history for personal and business reasons.
Use a People Search Engine
The easiest way to find your previous addresses is by using a public records search engine. People search engines are used to find information about people that is publicly available. All you need is just a name, city, and state to uncover a wealth of information about someone, including full name, age, address history, available contact information, and more. This is an effective method of searching for information quickly and efficiently.
Information.com is the number one choice you can trust when looking for public records. It collects information from many public sources and offers an exhaustive report that includes contact information, current and past addresses, contact information, social media accounts, and more.
To find your past addresses with Information.com, follow these steps:
Step 1: Go to Information.com’s reverse address lookup page.
Step 2: Enter your first and last name, city, and state. Then click the “Search” button.
Step 3: Wait for Information.com to check and go through its database. Once done, click your report to view the Information that will include your address history.
Check Your Credit Report
Another fairly easyt way to uncover your address history is by checking your credit report. Credit bureaus, such as the top three credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, typically keep the information about all your addresses from the time when your credit history began. The tax returns you file each year will likely have your current address at the time listed on them, among other things.
The good news is that you are officially entitled to a free copy of your credit report from any or all three credit bureaus once a year. To request a copy of your report, visit annualcreditreport.com.
Check Your Tax History
Income tax filing must include the address you filed it under at the time. So, if you’ve kept copies of your past tax returns, you can find the information about your previous addresses there. If you don’t have the copies, you can always request them from the IRS.
IRS tax transcripts allow you to see the current tax year and up to three previous years, and the IRS offers various transcript types free of charge. You can request a transcript by visiting the Get Your Tax Record page on their official site or completing Form 4506-T, Request for Transcript of Tax Return, then mailing it to the address listed in the instructions on the form.
After filing, it is important to send over the form within 120 days from the date you signed it, as the IRS will not accept it after four months. Should they not receive your document within 120 days, you would need to start the process once more.
If you need an exact copy of your past tax return with all attachments, you must fill out Form 4506, Request for Copy of Tax Return, and mail it to the address listed in the instructions, along with a $43 fee for each tax return requested. Copies are generally available for returns filed for the current and past six tax years.
Check Your Personal Records
Both credit and tax reports are good ways to find your previous addresses, but they can only provide addresses from when you started your credit history and began filing income taxes. If you need your address history from the other years of your life, you might want to search your personal records.
As a potential source of information, you might use school report cards, bank statements, billing documents, and personal correspondence. Someone going through this method should try to contact institutions such as schools they attended, doctors’ offices they’ve visited in the past, and organizations they belonged to.
These types of establishments are likely to keep emergency contact records and other documents of that nature, such as a mailing list for a particular year, which will usually display your home address at the time.
Family members and friends might also keep personal records that may pertain to your address history, so reaching out to people close to you or those close to you at the time might be a step you don’t want to skip.
Check Your Social Media
If you are an active social media user, you can potentially find your previous addresses from your social media activities. Many social platforms, such as Instagram and Facebook, have allowed users to share the location of their posts with other users, and document their journeys and moves throughout their post histories.
Should you still be using an older social media account or one you can still access despite not actively using it, you might be able to find your address saved on one of the posts. For example, an individual using Facebook could create whole photo albums based on one location. A little detective work could lead to information on your previous home address history.
Use Public Records Search
You would be surprised, but some personal information is, in fact, freely available to the public. One can use specific resources to access certain information about you, including some of your previous addresses.
You can also use resources such as the county clerk’s office and the state’s court system. Keep in mind that some information can be accessed online through the clerk or court’s website. In some cases, one may need to make an appointment with the court in order to receive their records. The county clerk’s office and state courts can provide public records of birth certificates, marriage and divorce records, and even property and tax information.
Conclusion
Many changes occur in a person’s life, and keeping track of home addresses can become challenging. You can utilize official methods such as going through the court system, the IRS, and your previous school and employment records to uncover your address history, especially from years and times when you could not record it down for the future. You can also use faster and easier methods, such as looking through social media or a public search engine to look up any information on the internet regarding your address history.
