How to Find Information on an Old Pension

Finding information about an old pension can be difficult if you don't know the proper channels. There are numerous services that will help you track down an old pension for a small fee, but there are also ways to do this yourself.

Instructions

1. Determine if the pension was an occupational pension or a personal pension. Either way, start by trying to find the name of the employer or personal pension.

2. Determine (if you have an occupational pension) what type of business the employer ran and whether or not the employer changed addresses at any time.

3. Determine where the personal pension was run from and the name of the insurance company involved. See the Resources section below for help on looking your pension information up by plan name, case number or company name.

4. Call the Pension Benefit Guarantee Company (PBGC) Customer Contact Center at [phone] for more information about your benefits once you find your plan. It is not uncommon for privately owned plans to terminate and then be transferred to the PBGC. Profit-sharing and 401k plans are not considered defined benefit plans.

5. Call your plan administrator or the PBGC Customer Contact Center (phone number above) if your pension plan has ended.

6. Request a payment estimate once you have located your old pension program. You can also apply for benefits, designate a beneficiary, update your personal information, adjust federal income tax withholding, apply for direct deposit and/or designate power of attorney.

Tips & Warnings

• When searching for your pension by plan number, leave off any beginning zeros. Also try using the "*" wild card character before or after part of the pension or company name to get more results.

• PBGC does not insure federal pension plans.

Resources

• Search for your pension plan by name, case number or company name.