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This page has not been translated. Please go to PBGC.gov's Spanish home page for more information available in Spanish.

Esta página no ha sido traducida. Por favor vaya a la página principal del sitio de español de PBGC para ver información disponible en español.

# Missing Participants Program

## Information for workers and retirees

If you are searching for a retirement benefit you earned from a previous employer, your first step should be to enter your information into PBGC’s Find unclaimed benefits database.

Retirement plans in the Missing Participants Program include terminated defined benefit plans insured by PBGC; defined benefit plans sponsored by small businesses; PBGC-insured multiemployer plans; and certain defined contribution plans like 401(k)s.

When these retirement plans ended, they had benefits on their books for people they couldn’t find. The plans then took one of two actions: Either they 1) transferred those benefits to PBGC’s Missing Participants Program or 2) purchased annuities for the people they couldn’t find from an insurance company or other financial institution.

You can find out if your retirement plan is part of the Missing Participants Program by searching the lists of plans at the links below.

Before you start your search, here are a few key points to understand:
                          - Finding your plan’s name does not necessarily mean that you have a retirement benefit coming to you, only that the plan transferred benefits or purchased annuities for some members of the plan.
                          - Retirement plans on the Missing Participants lists are for plans that have ended. If your plan is ongoing, even if it’s frozen, it will not be on these lists.
                          - PBGC’s Missing Participants Program does not cover any governmental (federal, state, city) or military pension benefits.

### Transferred benefit plans

Search Missing Participants - Transferred plans to find out if your plan transferred benefits to the PBGC’s Missing Participants Program.

If you find your plan name on the lists, here’s what to do:
                          - Give us a call at 1-800-400-7242. Tell our customer service representative that you are calling about an MP (missing participants) benefit.
                          - When you call, we’ll ask you a few questions to confirm and protect your identity, which may include asking for your Social Security number.  We’ll then look you up in the records of our Missing Participants Program to see if your plan transferred benefits to PBGC.
                          - Depending on what the records show, we’ll mail you information about any benefit you owed. If you have a benefit coming to you, and the benefit was transferred to PBGC, we’ll send you information about your benefit and we’ll explain what you need to do to obtain it.

If you are the surviving spouse or other relative of a deceased participant who may have earned a benefit in a missing participant plan, you may call us at 1-800-400-7242. Our customer representative will need to confirm your identity and relationship, which may take more than one phone call. Once your identity is confirmed, we’ll let you know if you are entitled to receive a benefit and what you need to do to obtain it.

### Plans that purchased annuities

Search Missing Participants – Notification plans to find out if your plan informed PBGC that it purchased annuities from an insurance company or other institution for some members.

If your plan’s name is on the list, you will find the following information to help you find a possible benefit:
                          - The name of the plan
                          - The employer who sponsored the plan
                          - The PBGC case number
                          - The location of the plan
                          - The name, and address of the insurance company or institution where the plan purchased annuities with the annuity contract number

When contacting the insurance company, provide them with the annuity contract number. PBGC has no additional information about a possible benefit for you.

PBGC updates the Missing Participants Program plan lists quarterly. For more information, see Tips for finding an unclaimed retirement benefit.

January 22, 2024