Pension Communication Services

Reuniting plan participants with former employers

  I received a letter from Pension Benefit Information:

The purpose of this letter is to update your address information, and obtain beneficiary information if the participant we are looking for is deceased.  This information will not be provided to any other individual or agency. The address information you supply is strictly confidential and will only be provided to the company, union, or plan agency that owes you benefits. 

Please read through the questions listed below to see if your question is answered.  If you need to contact us, please call our phone staff using the number on your letter.  If there is an unusually high call volume, you may receive a busy signal.  Please know that if you send in your response, you will be hearing directly from your former employer or union with more detailed information.

 

 Answers to the most common questions:

 

Q:  Who are you?

A:  We are an address location firm.  We find people who are due benefits, usually in the pension and retirement arena.  If you received a letter, a former employer has contracted with us to locate you.  Companies are required by law to have current addresses on all plan participants in order to send necessary information.

 

Q:  Why are you trying to locate me?

A:  There are many reasons for locating plan participants.  We try to communicate the specific reason in the box on the letter.  Sometimes employers simply want to update addresses in their files.  Other times, a plan may be terminated and they need to mail you the distribution paperwork.  Bottom line: if you are owed benefits now or in the future, your former employer needs to communicate with you.

 

Q:  What do I do?

A:  Please send in the bottom portion of the letter in the postage-paid envelope provided.  You will be hearing from the company directly with more specific information in a few months time. 

 

Q:  My former employer has my address.

A:  There are a few reasons your employer may have sent us your name.  First, benefit departments usually reside at the corporate headquarters.  Branch offices, or local unions, don’t always communicate your current address information with the main office.  Second, companies need to confirm the address they have is correct.  They have an address in their system, but do not know if the address is still current.  Third, your former employer has tried to mail you something, and it was returned by the Post Office.  Additionally, your former employer may have your current address, but an administrator handling the benefits does not.

 

Q:  How much money am I owed?

A:  Our purpose is to put your former employer in touch with you to communicate specifics about benefits owed.  We do not have access to specific dollar amounts.  That information is confidential between you and the company.

 

Q:  When will I hear from my former employer?

A:  We ask our clients to contact you by mail within 90 days.  Depending on the size of the project, they may need more time. 

 

Q:  I contacted my former employer.  Why are they not familiar with your company?

A:  We often work with the benefits department at the corporate headquarters.  Satellite offices may not be informed of the project.  We also regularly work with third-party benefit administrators, which are companies hired to manage all benefits duties.  If you have doubts, contact us and we will let you know which office requested the search.

 

Q:  Why do you have my Social Security Number?

A:  Your SSN was provided to us by your former employer to obtain a current address for you.  Social Security Numbers serve as record identifiers, which means we can find your address through this number.

 

Q:  I don’t recognize the company on the letter.

A:  Companies are regularly bought by other companies, or merged with other companies.  If you do not recognize the company on the letter, and cannot think of any former employer that has been bought or merged, feel free to contact us and we will try to obtain the information for you. 

 

Q:  I am still working for the company.

A:  See answer to the fourth question.

 

Q:  Can I call the company directly and find out more information?

A:  Not at this point.  We are responsible for phone calls and updating all address information.  You will hear directly from the company by mail.  If you haven’t received anything in four months time, you can call us and we will put you in direct contact with the company and the person requesting the search.

 

Pension Benefit Information

P.O. Box 10308

San Rafael, CA 94912