Fri Aug 6, 2004

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lost your pension? The U.S. agency that provides a safety net for corporate pensions may have it -- and said on Friday you may still be able to claim it.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is holding $75 million in pension benefits that have gone unclaimed. The money is due to 26,000 people who may have lost track of pensions earned during their careers, the agency said in a statement.

The unclaimed benefits range from $1 to $264,548, the agency said. The companies involved were primarily in the airline, steel, transportation, machinery, retail trade, apparel and financial services industries.

The Pension Search directory is located at www.pbgc.gov/search.

At some point, the pension plans folded and were taken over by the agency, but sometimes former workers cannot easily be located, the PBGC explained. It pays benefits up to certain limits for failed "defined benefit" pension plans, the traditional sort that pay a fixed payout at retirement.

"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."

The states with the most missing pension participants and money to be claimed are New York, California, Texas, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, PBGC said.

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