A job change, a move, or simply years passing can separate a person from money that is still theirs, and a short list of free government tools exists specifically to close that gap.

What is the Retirement Savings Lost and Found Database?

The Retirement Savings Lost and Found Database is a free search tool from the Department of Labor's EBSA office, created under the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, that searches by Social Security number for private-sector employer or union retirement plans, both pensions and 401(k)-type plans, that may still owe a benefit.

Using it requires an ID-proofed Login.gov account, and the tool cannot search for IRAs, Social Security benefits, or government-sponsored plans; a plan showing up in the results only confirms past participation, not that a benefit is still owed, so the next step is contacting that plan's administrator directly.

How do you search for an unclaimed pension benefit from a closed company?

If a company's pension plan ended and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) took it over, PBGC may be holding an unpaid benefit.

Its search tool only needs a last name and the last four digits of a Social Security number, and the list is refreshed every quarter; a match is a first step, and PBGC follows up by phone to verify more identifying information before confirming anything is owed.

Where do you search for unclaimed bank accounts, checks, and other property?

MissingMoney.com, managed by the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, lets a person search one site for unclaimed bank accounts, uncashed checks, and dormant brokerage holdings reported to participating states.

Forty-nine states take part, along with the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Canadian province of Alberta; Hawaii runs its own program outside MissingMoney.com.

A match on the site does not pay anything directly; it links out to the official state claims process instead.

What happened to Treasury Hunt, and how do you check on an old savings bond?

TreasuryDirect retired its Treasury Hunt search tool on September 30, 2025, so it can no longer be used to look up an unredeemed matured savings bond by Social Security number.

Anyone who believes they hold, or are owed, a lost, stolen, or destroyed savings bond now files a claim directly through TreasuryDirect's savings bond forms instead of searching a database first.

How do you check for unpaid wages, or money left at a closed bank or credit union?

The Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division holds recovered back wages for workers it cannot locate for up to three years before sending the money to the U.S. Treasury; its free Workers Owed Wages tool lets someone search by employer name and then request a claim form.

The FDIC separately runs a search for unclaimed insured deposits left behind when a bank it managed as receiver failed, searchable by name, business name, or check number.

The National Credit Union Administration posts a similar list for liquidated credit unions, searchable by last name, city, and credit union; shares claimed within 18 months of the liquidation are paid in full, while a later claim may be paid only on a pro-rata basis depending on what funds remain.

Is free, one-on-one help available if a search comes up empty?

The nonprofit Pension Rights Center connects people with six regional Pension Counseling Projects, funded through the federal Administration for Community Living, that provide free help with retirement benefit problems in 31 states.

Since the program began in 1993, it has recovered more than $294 million in benefits for over 70,000 people, and the Center can also point someone outside those 31 states toward other help.

Does it cost anything to use these searches?

No. The Department of Labor does not charge a fee to search its database or to recover a benefit found through it, and it specifically warns people not to pay a third party that claims it can recover funds on the agency's behalf.

The same rule holds for PBGC, MissingMoney.com, the FDIC, and the NCUA: every search listed here is free, and none of these agencies asks for payment before releasing money that belongs to you.

Working through each of these searches takes an afternoon, not a financial plan, but what turns up, or doesn't, is still a piece of the full picture Kroger employees need before deciding how their retirement savings fit together.

Where did an old Kroger 401(k) balance go?

For Kroger, that picture includes a couple of plan changes worth knowing about before assuming an old balance disappeared. Kroger merged its separate Kroger Co. Savings Plan into The Kroger Co. 401(k) Retirement Savings Account Plan effective August 26, 2024, moving about $2.35 billion in account balances into the surviving plan. Kroger's 401(k) plan also pays out a balance of $1,000 or less left behind at termination as a lump sum, and, absent a different election, rolls a balance over $1,000 up to $7,000 into an IRA chosen by the plan administrator. A former employee who left a small balance behind years ago may need to track down that IRA rather than the original plan.

Could a former Kroger pension sit with a union fund instead?

Kroger's own Consolidated Retirement Benefit Plan, covering 13,402 participants in its newest filing, has had all benefit accruals frozen since December 31, 2024, after a staged freeze that began in 2019, though money already earned there stays on the books. Kroger separately contributes to roughly a dozen multiemployer union pension funds under its collective bargaining agreements and is named fiduciary over two of them, so a union-represented former Kroger worker's pension history may sit with one of those funds rather than with Kroger directly. Checking both the company plan and any union fund named on an old pay stub or union card is a reasonable next step.