If You Receive A Letter, What Should You Do

Pension Benefit Information, LLC has been engaged by an organization to locate participants who are listed as “missing” and you may be due a benefit from your former employer. Please confirm or update your current mailing address so they can contact you with important benefit information.

Please do ONE of the following if you received a letter:
To confirm or update your information you will need the reference number and letter ID at the top of the notice. 

Confirm Your Info

Call us at 415-459-2319. We are available Monday – Friday, 8AM – 5PM Central Time.

Why You May Have Received A Letter

Our company Pension Benefit Information works with employers, unions, and other plan agencies to update addresses of plan participants who may be eligible for benefits. This page is intended to provide answers to the most common questions we are asked, and hopefully eliminate any confusion you may have.

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

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is PBI?

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 of yours or a union you were affiliated with has contracted with us to locate you and confirm your address. Companies are required to communicate with plan participant’s information on their benefits. Plan sponsors need current address information on file in order to send mandated disclosure information.

Why are you trying to locate me?

There are many reasons for locating plan participants. We try to communicate the specific reason in the black box in the center of 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 be in communication with you.

How do I respond?

There are several ways that you can confirm our update your mailing address.

Visit us at http://locate.pbinfo.com to confirm or update your information. You will need the reference number and letter ID from the top of the notice you received. This is the fastest way to confirm your information.

Give us a call at (415)459-2319. We are available Monday-Friday from 7 am – 5pm Pacific Time.

Send in the bottom portion of the letter in the postage-paid envelope provided with any corrections made and the appropriate box marked. The form at the bottom of this letter has been provided for you to verify or correct the information needed. A postage paid envelope is included for your convenience.

PBI will confirm your address and provide the results securely to your former employer or pension plan. Your former employer/union will then follow up with you directly.

Why did I receive a phone call from your office?

Some of our clients have engaged us to reach out to former employees or union members by phone if there is no response to the letter we sent. If you receive a voicemail from us, please give us a call back so that we can ensure your employer has your current contact information.

My former employer has my address.

There are a few reasons your employer has requested PBI to search for you. First, benefit departments usually reside at the corporate headquarters and 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 on file 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 as undeliverable. Additionally, your former employer may have your current address, but the third party administrator handling the benefits does not. Some employers have several plans (DC, DB, and ESOP).

How much money am I owed?

Our purpose is to put your former employer in contact with you to communicate the details regarding your benefits. PBI does not have access to specific dollar amounts as that information is confidential between you and your former employer.

When will I hear from my former employer?

On average, it usually takes around 90 days for our clients to contact you with information about your benefits. Depending on the size of the project and the number of participants they are looking for, this time period may be longer.

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

PBI often works with the benefits department usually located at the company’s corporate headquarters. Satellite offices may not be informed of the search being performed. We also regularly work with third-party benefit administrators, which are companies hired to manage all benefits duties. If you have any doubts, contact PBI and we will let you know which office requested the search.

I don’t recognize the company on the letter.

Companies are regularly acquired or merge with other companies. If you do not recognize the company on the letter you might search on the internet for your former employers for details.  If you are not successful please contact PBI and we will try to obtain that information for you.

I am still working for the company.

Some companies have not done a mailing to their plan participants in many years and may have chosen to update all their mailing addresses to ensure that names and addresses are correct. Even though they may have your address on file, some choose to update all the addresses that they have.

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

Not at this point. PBI is responsible for call center support and managing returned mail and responses until the project is completed. After the search is complete, you should hear directly from the company by mail. If you haven’t received anything in three months’ time, you can call us and we will put you in direct contact with the company and the person requesting the search.

I did not receive a letter but a colleague of mine did.

There are several possible reasons why a colleague of yours would have received a letter from our company at this time and you did not. You may be on our list of participants we are reaching out to and you just did not receive the letter in the mail as of yet, so please be patient. Alternatively, your former employer may not be searching for you at this time and we did not attempt to send you a letter.

Participant Quotes:

 “Dear PBI: I appreciate you being BBB members. It’s difficult knowing who is trustworthy in these days of heightened info security. Good on you!”
– Former employee of a Union Pension Fund

“I worked for them almost 18 years and didn’t think I’d be getting a pension. This is a great surprise.”
– Former employee, Major Hotel Chain

“I didn’t know All Steel had been acquired by another company who would have my benefits. I’m glad I got a second letter, because I shredded the first one. I’m so glad I called you.”
– Former employee of All Steel (Now Invensys)

“I worked for Clevite 10 years ago. This could be big! I tried to get the government to help me find these benefits 2 years ago and they said they could find nothing.”
-Former Clevite employee, Major Packaged Foods/Food service Corporation

“I have been trying to find these benefits for years! Some of these benefits with IBEW go back 30 years and I have been able to find nothing until now.”
-IBEW participant, Major Union Fund

“I have been trying to find out about this pension for the last year. I keep calling my former employer and have never been able to get any information.”
-Former Union worker

“I am approaching 65 and didn’t know how to collect my pension. I was thrilled you found me.”
-Hotel/Restaurant Union employee

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