NCOA Processing
National Change of Address (NCOA) Service
The National Change of Address (NCOA) system, also called NCOALink, is a massive database built and maintained by the United States Postal Service. It contains all the permanent change of address information submitted to them for the past 48 months. That’s roughly 160 million known address changes!
Access to this database is strictly controlled by even the top service providers. The data is encrypted and can only be accessed through search tools. No one can look through the data directly to harvest it for any use other than mailing address validation.
Through brokering and service agreements, companies like FreeNCOA.com can use their license to offer NCOA processing to their users. This lets them help customers improve their mailing data by eliminating incorrect addresses and updating addresses where recipients have filed a Change of Address with the Postal Service. This validation practically eliminates the problem of undeliverable mail.
Submit your mailing list right now and receive your free NCOA report. There’s absolutely no required purchase.
Run Your NCOA Processing Today For as LOW as $0.35/M!*
If you send out a mailpiece and it doesn’t get delivered, you’ve lost more than a piece of mail; you’ve lost an opportunity. Potential customers become lost customers. You could even lose touch with your most loyal customers.
In 2022, the US Postal Service processed 33.2 million address changes. If you have a mailing list or customer database, some of those changes should have come to you. If you’re not regularly using the National Change of Address (NCOA) database to update your address records, your customer data is slowly leaking away.
FreeNCOA.com can improve your mailing success and protect your customer data integrity by giving you the information you need to stay in touch with your hard-won customers and keep your sales leads fresh.
To use FreeNCOA.com, simply upload your file containing business or consumer names and addresses. You don’t need to download software, you don’t need to put your file in a special layout, and there is no record limit. We will then provide you with a detailed report indicating the number of records that are undeliverable/moved so you can decide which level of update you require (18-month, 48-month, or 30 years). You then have the option to get the updated records at our industry-leading prices. It couldn’t be simpler!
So stop guessing how many customers or prospects got your mail piece, and stop wondering about the quality level of your list… get your free NCOA processing report today.
How NCOA Processing Works
When you submit your mailing list for NCOA processing, each address is analyzed and converted to the United States Postal Service Postal Addressing Standard form. Abbreviations and address formats are standardized. If your list contains ZIP+4 information, it is checked for accuracy. If you only supply 5-digit ZIP codes, the NCOA system will attempt to look up the ZIP+4 based on the street and number. The status of the address is checked to be valid, vacant, or unknown. The address will also be checked against a list of addresses that have been renumbered or renamed. Then the name of the individual, family, or business you’ve provided for that address will be checked for Change of Address information on file.
Once complete, the corrected mailing list is sent back to you, along with all the information you originally provided (precisely as you submitted it) and all the additional information discovered for each deliverable address. This makes it easy to begin printing mail pieces or mailing labels at once and update your customer database with all the new information we’ve supplied.
NCOA Processing Pricing Information
Evaluating NCOA? or Have under 130,000 Records Quarterly?
FreeNCOA provides a FREE NCOA Processing ROI report that breaks down how many records are deliverable and not deliverable, as well as the number of moves. A key benefit of the report is that it breaks out 0-18-month moves vs. 0 to 48-month moves. This will help you save as you can decide how far back you need to go before spending a dime with no commitment. Why pay for 48-month processing if you only need 18-month processing?
Pricing for NCOALink, DPV, LACS, and Duplication Elimination:
| Report Type | Price“/M” = Per Thousand Records | Minimum |
| NCOA ROI Report | Free | / |
| Updated File 18 Month Processing | $0.35/M | $45.00 |
| Updated File 48 Month Processing | $0.75/M | $75.00 |
| Updated File 30 Year PCOA Processing | $15.00/M | $250.00 |
Save 10% by Prepaying on Final Upload Screen 4 hours to 1 Business Day Turnaround. Click Here to Pay for Jobs
2. Set up an FTP Folder and Format:
Let FreeNCOA set up a company folder to post your NCOA files to in any custom format that you choose (recommended format).
No Minimums or Delivery Fees
Fast Turn Around (3 hours possible)
One-time folder and format setup of $47.00 + monthly fee starting
as low as $100 per month (volume-based)
Call 800.531.2601 or email processing@freencoa.com to request more information.
3. Get NCOA FREE when you purchase from IMDataCenter:
FreeNCOA is partnered with www.IMDataCenter.com, and your purchase from FreeNCOA.com can be 100% credited towards any of the following products within 5 business days of your FreeNCOA purchase:
- WealthIM Appends
- Telephone Appends
- Email Appends
- Demographic Appends
New Product: Proprietary Change of Address (PCOA):
PCOA goes back 30 years and includes moves from the 20% that do not update with the post office annually, as well as confirms individual names at addresses and includes deceased processing!
| Report Type | Price |
| 0-150,000 records input | $15/M |
| 150,000- 400,000 input | $12.50/M |
| 400,000+: Inquire | Inquire |
Call 800.531.2601 or click here for more information on PCOA
Why FreeNCOA.com?
FreeNCOA.com makes NCOA Processing easy. You simply upload your mailing list to our system, which processes the data for you. We provide a National Change of Address (NCOA) Return On Investment (ROI) Report showing you where to allocate your processing budget.
Right up front, you’ll see how many addresses have NCOA moves—some in the last 18 months and the additional number of moves from 19 to 48 months ago.
You can see a sample report here.
Change of Address Report
| Prepared For: Sample Report | Process Date: 2/5/2015 |
| Number of Records Processed | 10,000 |
| Number of NCOA Moves in the last 18 months | 140 |
| Number of NCOA Moves from 19 to 48 months | 46 |
| Total Number of NCOA Moves | 186 |
| Percentage of File that has Moved | 1.86% |
| Vacant (Address does not receive mail) | 160 |
| DPV Updated/Address Corrected Records | 14 |
| DPV Deliverable Records | 8,162 |
| DPV Non-Deliverable Records | 1,687 |
| LACS Updated (Rural Address converted to Street Address) | 5 |
| Duplicate Records Found on Individual Level Match | 200 |
| Total Bad or Corrected Records | 2,003 |
NCOA Move Type
| Updated Records | |
| Individual Moved (I) | 144 |
| Family Moved (F) | 14 |
| Firm Moved (B) | 46 |
| Total | 186 |
NCOA processing will identify poorly formatted or erroneous entries. In many cases, it will use the information available to correct those errors. Transposed digits in street numbers or ZIP+4 codes are fixed before you lose touch with your customer.
But the NCOA offers much more. We’ll identify vacant and non-existent addresses in your customer list. You’ll see at a glance how many addresses have been renumbered or eliminated—usually due to economic activity in the area.
From our free NCOA report, you can decide for yourself how much value you stand to get from a full run of your customer contact data.
Whenever you’re ready for NCOA processing, choose the FreeNCOA.com order option that best suits your needs.
Once in hand, you’ll have clean and validated data that gives you insight into how your customers are behaving and how you can save costs.
When you’re ready to take that data further, FreeNCOA.com is ready to introduce you to the opportunities and insight you can get from our Proprietary Change of Address (PCOA) data system. With the databases and public records we’ve assembled, we can supply phone numbers, demographics, and email addresses you may not already have. We can also help you track moves made as long as 30 years ago.
If you don’t have a data analyst on hand, we can append your data at very competitive rates.
We’ll make it easy to integrate the new data you’ve obtained into your customer data so it’s ready to work for you. You won’t need to take your employees away from their work to sit down with a spreadsheet or your Customer Relationship Management system just to type out address corrections.
Our specialists are ready to help put your information and ours at your disposal. For custom quotes, please contact processing@FreeNCOA.com or call 800-531-2601.
FreeNCOA.com also has a price guarantee and will match or beat any data hygiene or data quote by 10%!
There’s no risk, so there’s no reason to delay. Upload your file now and receive our free Change of Address report right away.
Get Your Free NCOA Report Today
Submit your mailing list now and receive your FreeNCOA.com ROI report. This free summary will show just how much your mailing list can improve with a full NCOA update. There’s absolutely no required purchase and no obligation.
Commonly Asked Questions About NCOA Processing
What Are The Benefits Of NCOA Processing?
The most obvious benefit of using the National Change of Address system is that it helps get your direct mail to your intended recipient. When that’s not possible, it saves you the expense of printing and mailing pieces, which will ultimately be undeliverable. It also means fewer mail pieces are returned for you to review and enter into your customer database.
With a keen eye and little thought, there is much more value to be had from the NCOA system. When you examine your customer data alongside housing data, economic data, and population density, you can make informed decisions about where to advertise, where to warehouse your inventory, and where to deploy staff to best service your customers. You can even identify which cities and neighborhoods to consider expanding your business into.
When you extend this information using FreeNCOA.com’s Proprietary Change of Address (PCOA) services, you can build your own marketing and economics database far more specialized than what is available from census and Bureau of Labor Statistics outlets. With data of this quality, you can predict with surprising accuracy what effect your business decisions will have on your sales figures and customer behaviors.
Will I get all of the reports that I need for postal discounts?
Yes. You will receive all the documentation provided by the NCOALink service to show when and how your mailing data has been validated. It comes with a Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS) Certification identifying the software and service providers used in validating your data. This certification is only available from companies who have submitted their systems to the United States Postal Service for testing and approval. The statement that your mailing list was processed with approved software guarantees your eligibility for substantial discounts in postage for first-class mail, periodic mail, and standard mail (formerly called marketing mail).
What is a Processing Acknowledgement Form (PAF)?
An NCOALink Processing Acknowledgement Form is a one-page form to be filled out by anyone using the NCOALink product. It requires the user to submit their company information, including name, address, telephone number, North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) designation, and the name, title, and signature of the person submitting the form and responsible for maintaining the mailing information. It also has a section for the service provider to supply similar information about their license. A PDF of the Processing Acknowledgement Form may be downloaded here.
What’s the Difference Between PCOA and NCOA?
The National Change of Address (NCOA) database was created in 1986 by the United States Postal Service to improve the quality of service to its customers and to improve the efficiency and lower the costs of providing mail services. The database contains extremely useful information, though it is limited to information that applies to sending and receiving mail. Because the database is very large, data is removed from the system after 48 months, and a smaller database is maintained containing data for the most recent 18 months to speed up processing where only the most recent changes are needed.
The Proprietary Change of Address (PCOA) is a database of our own creation. It contains data we’ve collected from reliable outside sources, including data about users who have moved without filing a Change of Address form. It also allows us to give you Change of Address information going back as far as 30 years. We use credit card updates, magazine subscription updates, obituaries, and mail recipients who have registered with Do Not Mail lists. We also use geospatial calculation to add other useful information to our reports, such as how far an addressee has moved.
Do I Have To Sign A Processing Acknowledgement Form (PAF)?
Yes. It is a requirement of the US Postal Service that all users of the NCOALink system complete a Processing Acknowledgement Form (PAF) to identify themselves and acknowledge they have been given and agree to the NCOALink Service Provider Required Text Document. These forms are kept on file at the company providing the NCOALink product. This requirement has been in place since the NCOA database was created as an assurance to Congress that the database and its users remain in compliance with the Privacy Act of 1974.
A PDF of the Processing Acknowledgement Form may be downloaded here, and a PDF of the NCOALink Service Provider Required Text Document is available here.
How Often Should I Run NCOA Processing?
FreeNCOA.com makes this easy. You can always submit your mailing list to FreeNCOA.com to receive a free report demonstrating how many changes have occurred since your list was last processed.
If you are preparing a bulk mailing or presort permit mailing, US Postal Service regulations require your mailing list to have been validated during the 95-day period prior to your mailing.
How Often Is The NCOA Database Updated?
The US Postal Service updates the NCOA database continuously. Because the database is so huge, copies are distributed to NCOALink Full Service and Limited Service Provider licensees on a weekly basis. FreeNCOA.com uses Full Service and Limited Service Providers, so we can access the latest information from any NCOALink service.
Do I Know If It Was A Person or Business That Moved?
Whenever a mail recipient files a Change of Address form with the Postal Service, they indicate whether the change of address is for an individual move, a family move, or a business move. When you receive your results from your NCOALink job, you’ll get that information for each move. In some cases, people who are moving will give the individual names of their entire family to minimize errors. That only improves the quality of your results and ensures the highest deliverability rate.
What Fields Are Appended During The NCOA Process?
When you submit your mailing list information to the NCOALink service, you get back a wealth of useful information.
Things like:
- Every deliverable address in USPS standard form
- County name
- Longitude and Latitude
- Congressional District Code
- Residential/Business Identification
- Carrier Route number
- Address validation status
- And much more.
A complete list of data included in NCOA results is available here.
What Happens if a Mail Recipient Moves to a Foreign Country?
The NCOA database handles international and foreign moves, too! You can find information about mail recipients moving into or out of the United States in the NCOALink system. Changes involving international addresses have to be made in person at a local post office in the country where the move is being made from.
You’ll need to take care that international addresses are handled correctly when it comes time to send your mail. Presort mail processing used by First Class Mail, Periodical Mail, and Standard Mail (formerly called Marketing Mail) does not provide for international mailing.
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