National registry of unclaimed retirement benefits website

The Abandoned Plan Program facilitates the termination of, and distribution of benefits from, individual account pension plans that have been abandoned by their sponsoring employers. The program was established pursuant to three final regulations and a related class exemption and is administered by EBSA national and regional offices.

Table of Contents Show

1. Contact Your Old Employer
2. Look for an Old Account Statement
3. Go on the Department of Labor’s Website
4. Go Online
5. Check if Your Former Employer Merged with Another Company
6. Contact Friends at Your Old Employer
Follow These 2 Tips to Prevent This Issue
How do I find out if I have any retirement benefits?
How do I find an old 401k account?
How do you check to see if you have a 401k?

Millions of Americans accidentally or unknowingly leave money in retirement plans with previous employers. According to a study by the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, Americans lost track of more than $7.7 billion in retirement savings in 2015.

If you've left a retirement plan with a previous employer, not to worry. Here are 6 tips you can follow to reclaim your money.

1. Contact Your Old Employer

Your first step should be to contact your former employer. The human resources department should have a record of your account. If your account was rolled over to an IRA for your benefit, your former employer should be able to give you information about the institution holding the IRA funds. If your account is still in the company’s retirement plan, your former employer can provide you with distribution forms to receive your money.

2. Look for an Old Account Statement

If you are having a hard time contacting your former employer, or if they are no longer in business, look for an old account statement. Those statements are commonly issued by the financial institution that held the plan funds. That institution may be able to help you locate your account.

3. Go on the Department of Labor’s Website

Go to the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) website and try to locate the company’s Form 5500 (the plan’s required tax filing). The Form 5500 should have the plan administrator’s contact information. Then you can contact the responsible party directly and ask about your retirement account.

4. Go Online

The National Registry of Unclaimed Retirement Benefits' website, the DOL’s Abandoned Plan Database, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s (PBGC) website may be of assistance. The National Registry allows you to conduct a search using your Social Security number to see if any employers have a retirement account for you. The DOL’s Database helps participants and others find out whether a plan is or has been terminated. If so, it will provide the name of the person responsible for terminating the plan. Lastly, the PBGC has a Missing Participants program that allows plans to transfer funds of missing participants to the PBGC to hold until the participant is found, or plans may send information to the PBGC about the entity that is terminating and how the participant can receive his or her benefit.

5. Check if Your Former Employer Merged with Another Company

If you believe that your former employer may have merged with or been purchased by another company, do some research online to see what the new name and contact information is for the company.

6. Contact Friends at Your Old Employer

Contact friends who may still be working for your old employer, and see if they can direct you to the proper contact for the plan’s benefits.

Follow These 2 Tips to Prevent This Issue

Request a Distribution as Soon as You Terminate Employment: when you leave your job, consider requesting a distribution of your benefits right away, so you can roll those funds into your new employer’s plan or an individual retirement account.
Update Your Contact Information with Your Former Employer Every Time You Move: If you left your past retirement account with your previous employer, make sure you contact the company every time you move to update your contact information or request a distribution. If the employer has your contact information, you should receive benefit statements at least annually. If you wait years to take action, changes may make it hard to locate your account.

Many employers discover that finding missing participants can be next to impossible. However, plan sponsors are required to take all reasonable means to locate a participant. One of the tools that has been lacking is a national database where plan sponsors can post information on missing participants that is searchable by the general public. The Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation maintains such a database for locatable defined benefit plan beneficiaries, buy nothing has existed for defined contribution plan beneficiaries, until now.

PenChecks, Inc., a large independent qualified plan benefit distribution processing organization, has established The National Registry as a wholly-owned subsidiary.

The National Registry is a website where plan sponsors, plan administrator, custodians, or other plan service providers can register the names of missing plan participants who have unclaimed retirement funds. Individuals who think they may have old 401k accounts simply enter their social security number and the database is searched for any nationwide matches. If there are any matches, the person shown who the employer(s) is that has retirement money and is also asked to provide your current contact information so that this employer may contact them and make arrangements for distribution.

According to the company, it is an excellent and cost effective way for plan sponsors to try to locate their missing participants. For a nominal fee per missing participant, the National Registry maintains a database that's accessible to anyone nationwide to help former employees find abandoned retirement money.

The firm will automatically notify the plan sponsor when a missing participant does locate money using the site. They will send the plan sponsor an email with the missing participant's new contact information so that the plan sponsor can make arrangements to pay them out.

You can find out more at www.unclaimedretirementbenefits.com.

Rick Meigs, President, 401khelpcenter.com, LLC

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How do I find out if I have any retirement benefits?

To track other resources you may have in retirement, start by getting your Social Security statement and an estimate of your retirement benefits on the Social Security Administration's website, www.socialsecurity.gov/mystatement.

How do I find an old 401k account?

Contact Your Former Employer The simplest and most direct way to check up on an old 401(k) plan is to contact the human resources department or the 401(k) administrator at the company where you used to work. Be prepared to state your dates of employment and Social Security number so that plan records can be checked.

How do you check to see if you have a 401k?

You can use your Social Security number to search databases such as the National Registry of Unclaimed Retirement Benefits or the U.S. Department of Labor's Abandoned Plan Search to locate a 401(k) plan you might have left behind.