Address Enrichment
API services like Melissa, LexisNexis, Ekata, and SmartyStreets that classify a U.S. address by type, risk, and ownership signals.
Address-enrichment APIs ingest a free-form address and return structured metadata: standardized USPS form, residential vs commercial, CMRA flag, PMB token, ownership type, geocoordinates, and risk score. Banks (Mercury, Brex), payment processors (Stripe, PayPal), and marketplaces (Amazon, Shopify) call these APIs during KYB and use the enrichment output as a primary signal for accept/reject decisions. An address that returns "CMRA: true" or "PMB: 123" is the most common cause of silent KYB rejections.
Also known asAddress Validation, Address Verification API, AVS
Related terms
- CMRA — A USPS-registered Commercial Mail Receiving Agency authorized to receive mail on behalf of customers under USP…
- PMB — A Private Mailbox unit number (e.g., "PMB 123") that USPS regulations require CMRAs to format into the recipie…
- KYB — The verification process U.S. financial institutions perform on a legal entity (LLC, corporation, partnership)…
- USPS Address Standardization — The USPS rules (CASS / Publication 28) that convert a free-form address into a single canonical, deliverable f…