Federal Pension Agency May Have Money Belonging to You

If you know someone who is retired from the airline, steel, transportation, machinery, retail trade, apparel and financial services industries and lives in New York, California, Texas, New Jersey or Pennsylvania, there's a possibility that pension money belonging to them is being held by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, Reuters reported.

While most of the $75 million in unclaimed benefits due to 26,000 people the agency can't find comes from those industries and belongs to people living in the above states, the benefits aren't confined to these areas. The agency is urging everyone to visit the Pension Search directory located at www.pbgc.gov/search [1].

The unclaimed benefits range from $1 to $264,548, the agency said. The money fell into the hands of PBGC when pension plans went under and were taken over by the federal agency. The agency pays benefits up to certain limits for failed "defined benefit" pension plans, the traditional sort that pay a fixed payout at retirement, Reuters reported.

"We urge everyone to check the Pension Search directory on PBGC's Web site to see if they, a friend or a relative are missing any pension dollars earned during their working years," said PBGC Executive Director Bradley D. Belt.

"We want people to get the retirement money they worked so hard to earn."