Find Unclaimed Retirement Benefits

How do you find hidden 401(k) accounts and unclaimed pension benefits? You might’ve left a job and left your retirement plan with your former employer, or you might’ve participated in a pension plan that got terminated. Since over $100 million of retirement benefits go unclaimed each year, it’s worth checking to see if there’s money out there waiting for you! We’ve put together a simple guide to help you navigate the world of unclaimed benefits and give you options for tracking down missing, forgotten, and hidden retirement funds.

Steps

Contact your former employer.

1. Your money might be sitting right where you left it. Find out if you participated in a retirement savings plan, like a 401(k), through your company. If the company’s still in business, call or email your former HR department or accounting department. Ask them to take a look and see if there’s a plan (and money) with your name on it.
   • You’ll likely have to provide your Social Security number as well as the dates you worked for the company.
   • If you had less than $5,000 in your retirement benefits account, your company might’ve rolled your cash into an IRA or bank account without your consent. The company can help you locate the money.

Call your retirement plan administrator.

1. Use this strategy if your company hired a firm to manage your benefits. This is likely the case if you worked for a bigger company. Check any old 401(k) statements you have to find contact info for the plan administrator. If you can’t find an old statement, don’t worry! If the company’s shut down, you can move onto the next step or contact a former co-worker to ask if their pension checks list contact info for a retirement plan administrator.
   • If your company’s still in business, call and ask for the retirement plan administrator’s contact information.

Search online for your company’s 5500 fillings.

1. Look up the contact info for a plan administrator on a 5500 form. The 5500 form is collected by the Department of Labor so they can track employee benefit plans. Go to https://www.efast.dol.gov/5500search/ to look up your employer. Search by their Employer Identification Number (EIN), which you can find on a pay stub. If you don’t know their EIN, try typing the company name and searching by selecting “Plan Sponsor.”
   • Once you pull up the 5500 form, the plan administrator contact info will be on page 2. Call the plan administrator to track down your lost 401(k) or pension money.
   • This method will only work to find forms filed after January 1, 2010.

Check the National Registry of Unclaimed Benefits.

1. Search this safe, secure online database to see if your employer registered your unclaimed benefits. As a former employee, you can search for free to find your unclaimed retirement money. Input your Social Security number into the database, and see what you can find. Visit https://unclaimedretirementbenefits.com/ to check it out.
   • The National Registry of Unclaimed Benefits doesn’t collect personal info beyond your SSN.
   • If you’re a veteran, you can download old VA benefit letters from the Department of Veteran’s Affairs (https://www.va.gov/records/download-va-letters/).
   • If you’re a former federal employee, visit the Office of Personnel Management (https://www.opm.gov/retirement-services/) to view your benefits history.

Search the Abandoned Plans database.

1. Visit the Abandoned Plans database if your company terminated your retirement plan. Your company may have terminated your retirement plan or pension plan if they went bankrupt or went through extreme financial distress. However, you’re still entitled to benefits! It can get tricky to find those benefits, though, since companies who terminate plans turn over benefit management to a Qualified Termination Advisor (QTA). Visit https://www.askebsa.dol.gov/AbandonedPlanSearch/ to search for your terminated plan and find out who has your money.
   • A QTA could be a bank, insurance company, or another financial firm.
   • In most cases, you’ll receive notice before plan termination, and the QTA will contact you to set up a plan for your money.
   • If your benefits account balance is smaller than the projected taxes and fees for your account, you won’t receive notice about plan termination.

Contact the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

1. The PBGC pays pension benefits when employers can’t pay. Try giving this government agency a call if you’re a private-sector employee. They can help you figure out your pension eligibility, give you information on your rights, and help you track down your retirement benefits. Visit https://www.pbgc.gov/about/pg/contact/contact-unclaimed to get in contact.
   • You’ll need to provide your name, Social Security number, mailing address, daytime and evening telephone numbers, company name, and the dates you worked for the company.

Look up your state’s unclaimed property database.

1. Your retirement benefits might be sitting in a state fund. This can happen if your company transferred your retirement money to a bank. Then, if you didn’t touch the money for several years, the bank might’ve transferred the money to your state’s unclaimed property department. Search “unclaimed property” plus your state name to find your official state government database.
   • You’ll likely have to input your name, address, and any account numbers you have.
   • State laws typically label property “abandoned” and require banks to turn it over to the state after 3-5 years.

Search a national unclaimed property database.

1. Try this to track down unclaimed benefits if you’ve moved states. Go to https://unclaimed.org/ to search by your name. This database is run by the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, and it’s free and secure to use. You can use it to track either a lost pension plan or missing money from 401(k)/IRA accounts.

Get help from the Pension Rights Center.

1. Contact the Pension Rights Center if you need legal counsel. Let’s be real, understanding retirement benefits is confusing! The Pension Rights Center is a great resource if you have questions or need to track down wrongfully-denied pensions or find unclaimed retirement benefits as someone’s spouse or child. They provide free legal aid to help you understand your rights for both pension plans and retirement savings plans, like 401(k)s and Withdraw Roth IRA Contributions. Visit https://pensionrights.org/find-help.

Contact a union.

1. Any union linked with your company might have benefits information. You can try contacting them for info–even if you weren’t represented by the union. It’s likely other employees have asked them questions on benefits, or they might’ve even helped create the pension plan. Visit your state’s labor federation website to identify a union associated with your former company.

Watch out for “finder firm” scams.

1. Don’t hire anyone to track down missing retirement money. “Finder firms” will demand 30-40% fees to help you locate unclaimed money. Beware of spam mail that asks you to pay upfront in order to look for unclaimed retirement benefits. Scammers will take your money and then redirect you to a free website or national database that you could access on your own.

References

See also

• Make a Retirement Gift Basket
• Know How Much to Give for a Retirement Gift
• Make a Retirement Scrapbook
• Use Life Insurance in Your Retirement Planning
• Transfer Retirement Funds to a Roth Ira
• Start a Retirement Home in Ontario
• Retire from a Job You Love
• Prepare for Early Retirement
• Prepare for Retirement in Your 20s
• Plan for Long Term Care

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