US retirement money sits in three separate places, and none of them look for a former worker who left. We identify what is in your name and hand you the route in. $99, full refund if we find nothing material.
Start here
$99
Country Pension Identification Report, the United States
Within 24 to 48 hours
Full refund if we find nothing material.
Enhanced Pension Identification Report, $499: your Action Pack, a complete request pack for every fund we identify, written in your voice and ready to send, delivered within five working days of your intake form. Global Pension Identification Report, $799: the same across every country you worked in, up to all 41 we cover, within ten working days. Full refund if we find nothing material, decided at identification.
At the Country Report you contact the administrators yourself, using the routes in your report. On Enhanced and Global: We stay with your case after delivery. If an administrator asks you a question, refuses, or simply does not reply, send it to us and we will tell you exactly what to send next. That continues until every fund we identified has answered you, or the route is exhausted and we say so plainly.
Identification only. We do not open credential-protected accounts, and we do not transfer, negotiate, or make decisions regarding any pension. Everything below is the free official route, and it stays free: you are welcome to use it instead.
For decades the Windfall Elimination Provision reduced US Social Security for people holding a pension from work not covered by US Social Security, including foreign pensions, and the Government Pension Offset did the same to spousal and survivor benefits. The Social Security Fairness Act ended both.
"December 2023 is the last month that WEP and GPO will apply. This means that those rules no longer apply to benefits payable for January 2024 and later."
SSA explicitly names the group as including "people whose work had been covered by a foreign social security system." So the consequence is plain: anyone who decided years ago that a US benefit was not worth pursuing because a foreign pension would eat it should recalculate, because the reason no longer exists.
Losing track of a 401(k) tells you nothing about your Social Security position. The Department of Labor sits over plan enforcement, but no single view joins the three.
Free and public. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation insures private defined benefit plans and holds benefits from plans that terminated.
For benefits transferred to PBGC when a plan terminated and could not find the person.
The one people miss. Small abandoned retirement accounts are frequently escheated to the state, so the money sits with a state treasurer under the state last lived or worked in, not with any pension body. Each state runs its own free search.
A free earnings record and estimate.
The Social Security Fairness Act repealed the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset, with December 2023 the last month those rules apply. People who never applied because of those rules must file an application, and retroactivity is generally limited to six months.
Official source, checked 21 August 2026
The PBGC unclaimed benefits search requires only a last name and the last four digits of a Social Security number, with no login.
Official source, checked 21 August 2026
The route Americans are told to use, a my Social Security account, is built around US-based identity verification. For someone who has left, without a US phone number, US address or US credit footprint, that door is frequently shut.
The free route is real. It is not equally available to someone who left, and we would rather say that than pretend otherwise.
Forty credits, ordinarily ten years of covered work. Below that, there is no benefit on US work alone.
The United States holds bilateral totalization agreements with a substantial number of countries. Where one applies, foreign coverage can count toward the forty-credit threshold and each country pays on its own periods, so a three-year US posting that looks worthless alone may not be. SSA publishes the agreements list.
No. The Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset were ended by the Social Security Fairness Act. In SSA's own wording, December 2023 is the last month that WEP and GPO will apply, which means those rules no longer apply to benefits payable for January 2024 and later. SSA names the affected group as including people whose work had been covered by a foreign social security system.
Yes. The penalty that made that decision rational no longer exists. Anyone who decided years ago that a US benefit was not worth pursuing because a foreign pension would eat it should recalculate, because the reason has gone.
Forty credits, ordinarily ten years of covered work. Below that threshold there is no benefit on US work alone.
Not necessarily. The United States holds bilateral totalization agreements with a substantial number of countries. Where one applies, foreign coverage can count toward the forty-credit threshold and each country pays on its own periods, so a short US posting that looks worthless on its own may not be. SSA publishes the list of agreements.
Small abandoned retirement accounts are frequently escheated to the state, so the money sits with a state treasurer in the state you last lived or worked in rather than with any pension body. Each state runs its own free search.
No. The three layers are separate and nothing connects them. Social Security is federal and sits with SSA, a defined benefit pension from an employer is insured by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, and a 401(k) or similar defined contribution account is held by a plan administrator or recordkeeper. Losing track of a 401(k) tells you nothing about your Social Security position.
Not always. The route Americans are told to use, a my Social Security account, is built around US-based identity verification. For someone who has left, without a US phone number, US address or US credit footprint, that door is frequently shut. The free route is real, but it is not equally available to someone who left.
Start here
$99
Country Pension Identification Report, the United States
Within 24 to 48 hours
Full refund if we find nothing material.
Enhanced Pension Identification Report, $499: your Action Pack, a complete request pack for every fund we identify, written in your voice and ready to send, delivered within five working days of your intake form. Global Pension Identification Report, $799: the same across every country you worked in, up to all 41 we cover, within ten working days. Full refund if we find nothing material, decided at identification.
At the Country Report you contact the administrators yourself, using the routes in your report. On Enhanced and Global: We stay with your case after delivery. If an administrator asks you a question, refuses, or simply does not reply, send it to us and we will tell you exactly what to send next. That continues until every fund we identified has answered you, or the route is exhausted and we say so plainly.
Identification only. We do not open credential-protected accounts, and we do not transfer, negotiate, or make decisions regarding any pension. Everything below is the free official route, and it stays free: you are welcome to use it instead.
Important Information
PensionHunter is a research and administrative assistance service only. We search pension registries and employer records to identify whether pension entitlements may exist in your name, we do not provide financial advice, manage pension funds, arrange pension transfers, or assist with claiming or accessing pension funds.
PensionHunter is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or any equivalent financial-services or pensions regulator in your jurisdiction. Our service is limited to research and information provision. We charge a fixed research fee paid in advance, Full refund if we find nothing material.
All decisions about your pension, including whether to contact providers, transfer funds, or take any other action, remain entirely yours. We strongly recommend consulting a qualified independent financial adviser regulated in your jurisdiction before making any decisions about any pension we locate.