At the end of 2017, MetLife disclosed that for years it had not been paying approximately 13,500 retirees the benefits they were due.
Why? The company couldn’t find them. Some of the accounts MetLife was not paying were from pension plans it assumed as long as 25 years ago — when the beneficiaries were still far from retirement age. MetLife’s policy was to make two attempts to contact retirees: once when they approached age 65 and a second time five-and-a-half years later, when federal law requires retirees to begin withdrawing their benefits. In the wake of MetLife’s discovery, the company has established varied and more frequent attempts to make contact.
As people move from job to job and change home addresses, pension plans and other valuable retirement benefits are getting left behind. Although these benefits can provide vital income to retirees, many have not kept track of all the retirement plans they’ve participated in throughout their careers. And sometimes, employers change their names years after a worker left, making it more difficult for former employees to keep up. Several websites and resources can offer workers help tracking down the retirement benefits they can claim.
Big money is at stake. According to the investment management company TIAA, as of 2015, a full 30 percent of employees had abandoned a retirement account from a previous employer. The Government Accountability Office recently reported that from 2004 to 2013, more than 25 million employees left at least one retirement account behind.
“Our lives move on after we leave an employer, and it’s very easy to lose track of something that you’re not able to collect right now,” says Ellen Kleinstuber, chair of the American Academy of Actuaries’ Pension Committee. “Many people don’t remember that they earned a monthly pension until they get older and focus in on retirement.”
One proposed remedy — the Retirement Savings and Lost and Found Act of 2018 — was introduced in the Senate earlier this month. The bill, which AARP supports, allows for the creation of a national online searchable database that enables workers to search for retirement accounts they may have left behind during job transitions. This public resource would be populated with the data employers already are required to report to the Treasury Department.
In the absence of a national database, there are several steps employees can take to determine if they’ve left behind unclaimed retirement money:
- Contact former employers. Ideally, you should be receiving periodic mailed statements from each retirement plan you’ve ever contributed to. If you suspect you have a plan and do not receive such statements, call your former employer and ask to speak with the pension plan administrator.
- Consult with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. PBGC was created in 1974 by the federal government to protect the retirement incomes of American workers in nearly 24,000 private-sector defined benefit pension plans when those plans are terminated. At the beginning of the year, the program was expanded to cover defined contribution plans such as 401(k)s and some defined benefit plans. If you suspect you’ve lost track of a retirement plan, PBGC maintains a searchable unclaimed pensions database and has published a guide that contains advice and best practices when searching for a plan.
- Visit the Department of Labor’s website. The site offers several resources, including a form employees may submit to request help locating and contacting retirement plans, obtaining plan documents, and requesting assistance if a former employer has filed bankruptcy or is being acquired. After submitting the form, employees are contacted by benefits advisers who address their specific concerns. Another online service from the Department of Labor enables workers to search for terminated retirement plans.
SAN DIEGO, June 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Registry, a nation-wide public service company, provides a secure database service designed to support fiduciaries and custodians holding retirement benefits that have been left in the plan, unclaimed by missing former participants, or have been set up as a Default IRA.
It is a free service to the Fiduciary or the Institution to register the former participant and for the participant that is trying to locate their unclaimed funds. It is a secure website designed to help both employers and former employees. Employers can register names for free of former employees who have left money in the plan or who have had a Default IRA established on their behalf. Former employees can perform a free, secure search to determine if they are entitled to any unpaid retirement account money. This website contributes greatly to fiduciaries meeting their obligation to see that these unclaimed benefits are re-connected with the former participant.
NRURB® is a free public service established, operated, and monitored by PenChecks, Inc. since 2005. For more information, go to //www.unclaimedretirementbenefits.com or call (877) 462 2745.
About PenChecks, Inc.
PenChecks, Inc. was established in 1994 and has become the Nation's largest independent processor of benefit payments from ERISA-Qualified and Non-Qualified Plans, recurring benefit payments, participant loan distribution processing, and the largest administrator of Default/Missing Participant IRA's. We are the only firm in the country specializing in administering and processing Stale Dated/Un-cashed checks on behalf of institutions and other businesses. In addition, we handle court-ordered settlements and class action settlements, as well as bill paying. Our extensive, dedicated staff, proprietary technology and expertise saves our clients valuable time, reduces their risk and increases profits immediately. Our clients include, Third Party Administrators, Plan Sponsors, Plan Advisors, Various Institutions, Bankruptcy Trustees and other Service Providers. For more information, please visit PenChecks at: //www.penchecks.com or call 800.541.3938.
About The National Registry of Unclaimed Retirement Benefits®
A wholly owned subsidiary of PenChecks, Inc. (an expert and industry leader in qualified retirement plan distributions), The National Registry of Unclaimed Retirement Benefits is an open-use public service company dedicated to helping individuals and companies locate lost or abandoned pension benefit distributions. The National Registry is a nationwide, secure database listing of retirement plan account balances that have been left unclaimed. Employees can perform a free, secure database search to determine if they may be entitled to any unpaid retirement account money. Plan Sponsors, Plan Providers, Plan Advisors and T.P.A.'s can register terminated participant names with retirement benefits for free. For more information, please go to: //www.unclaimedretirementbenefits.com.
CONTACT: Spiro Preovolos, APR
Director of Operations, PenChecks, Inc.
610 462
9433
[email protected]
This press release was issued through eReleases(R). For more information, visit eReleases Press Release Distribution at //www.ereleases.com.
SOURCE PenChecks, Inc.