How to find a lost pension
It is up to the individual worker to find his or her former
pension plan.
To receive a benefit, the worker needs to contact the former
employer to apply for the benefit, but this task may involve tracing
back through a complicated series of corporate mergers and
bankruptcies.
Employees can start by contacting the Social Security Administration
to get a copy of their social security earnings record. This record
will provide their former employer’s federal ID number, which may
help in tracking down the plan.
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PGBC), which insures most
private sector defined benefit plans in the United States, can
assist in finding pension plans that are ongoing defined benefit
plans paying pension benefit insurance premiums. It also maintains a
Pension Search database that will assist workers whose lost defined
benefit plans have terminated with insufficient funding and have
been taken over by the PBGC. While it does not provide any
assistance for workers looking for a lost defined contribution plan.
it suggests thirteen other sources of information for tracking down
a former employer or union and a lost pension (Pension Benefit
Guaranty Corporation 1999):
1.
Contact former co-workers who may have useful information.
2.
If a union covered workers at the former workplace, contact the
union.
3.
Contact the Chamber of Commerce in the city where the company was
located.
4.
Try to contact the pension plan administrator based on information
from the most recent documentation the worker has.
5.
If the information is known, contact the plan’s actuary or other
service provider.
6.
If one is available, go to a business library to research
information about possible mergers the company was involved in.
7.
Do a computerized search over the Internet.
8.
Contact the office of the Secretary of State in the state where the
employer was located. In most states, companies are required to file
an annual report with the Secretary of State’s office.
9.
Contact the company’s competitors to see if they can provide
information about the company.
10.
Contact a local historical society for information about the
company.
11.
Contact the office of the county or municipal recorder of deeds.
12.
Contact a stockbroker if the company was publicly traded. Get an
annual report of the company to find its current address.
13.
If the company went bankrupt, try to find the identity of the
trustee in bankruptcy.
All private employer pension plans (other than church plans) are
required annually to file a schedule with the Department of Labor
called the Schedule SSA of the Form 5500 if they have had any vested
employees leave their employment with deferred benefits. On this
schedule, pension plans list the vested workers who terminated
employment during the preceding year as well as information on how
to contact the pension plan. This schedule is sent to the Social
Security Administration. When a worker files for social security
benefits, the Social Security Administration notifies the worker
that he or she may be eligible for pension benefits from previous
employers that have filed this form. This notification deals with
the problem of lost pensioners—people who may be unaware that they
are eligible for a pension benefit from a former employer. At that
point, however, the person must search for the plan because the
information provided by the Social Security Administration is
current as of the date the worker left his or her former employer.
There is currently no statistical data on the likelihood of success
for a worker looking for a lost pension. The PBGC (1999) cautions,
however, “None of the sources of information described in this
section is likely to lead you directly, in one easy step, to the
pension fund.”
The following publications from the PBGC will provide you with more
information "Finding
a Lost Pension". requires PDF reader
click to download
