Finding an Unclaimed Pension
You, or someone you know, may be owed a pension. Below are options for searching PBGC's list of pensions that have been earned, but are unclaimed.
PLEASE NOTE: The lists you can search here do not include all people for whom PBGC is holding pensions or information about their pensions. It includes only those people whom PBGC has not yet been able to contact directly.
Search here for unclaimed pensions by the participant's or beneficiary's last name, the name of the company that provided the pension, or the state of the company's location.
You also may go directly to PBGC's list of unclaimed pensions by clicking here.
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What should you do if your search finds an unclaimed pension that may be owed to you or someone you know?
Contact PBGC as soon as possible.
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What if the participant who earned the unclaimed pension is deceased?
If the participant is deceased, please inform PBGC. See Report the death of a PBGC participant.
If you are a beneficiary of the deceased participant and you find the participant's name here, contact PBGC to find out if you are entitled to a benefit. Beneficiaries normally receive payments lower than what the participant would have received.
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What if the name you find has an asterisk (*) next to it?
An asterisk next to a name means that PBGC is uncertain whether the person is owed a benefit from the pension plan based on the records currently available to PBGC (for example, a company may have sent PBGC a name but with a zero benefit). However, we encourage you to contact PBGC for a determination. You may provide additional documentation that may establish an entitlement to a benefit.
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What if you can't find the name you're looking for?
If your search found the name of the company, but you cannot find the name of the person you are searching for -
It's possible that the person you're searching for may be missing from the records of a terminated defined benefit pension plan for which PBGC typically would have records. In such a case, you should first try to contact the pension plan administrator or the company that provided the pension to request that it look for your records and provide them to PBGC.
If you are unable to reach either the plan administrator or the company, but you still believe that you (or the person you're searching for), are owed a benefit, you should contact PBGC.
If your search did not find the name of the company or the person you are searching for -
The list of unclaimed pensions has some limitations, so if you can't find the name of a company or the name of a person that you're looking for, you may have to look at other sources (see below) or contact PBGC for assistance.
The list only includes unclaimed pensions in pension plans that meet all three of the following requirements -
The plan is terminated. If the plan is still ongoing, PBGC will not have information on it.
The plan is a single-employer plan. Multiemployer plans are not covered.
The plan is covered by PBGC's insurance program. PBGC's insurance program covers most defined benefit pension plans sponsored by private companies or organizations (defined benefit pension plans promise to pay a specified benefit, usually a monthly amount, to participants when they retire).
The following single-employer plans are not covered by PBGC's insurance program:
- Plans such as profit-sharing or 401(k) plans, which are defined contribution plans.
- Certain defined benefit plans, such as those offered by "professional service employers" (for example, doctors and lawyers) with 25 or fewer employees.
- Plans offered by a church or group of churches where it has not made an election to be covered by PBGC's insurance program.
- Pension plans offered by federal, state or local governments.
If the pension plan is ongoing, is not a single-employer plan or is not covered by PBGC's insurance program, see Finding a Lost Pension for help in finding a pension that may be owed.
