We have a need to locate current mailing addresses for thousands of former employees whose whereabouts have not been tracked. What are some reliable--and cost effective--ways of obtaining current addresses? We, of course, have name, SSAN, and last known address. Thanks for the help.

In general, there are some commercial locator services that could be utilized, or the internet, or using current employees to help. Since you have so many, you should expect that some cost will be involved. Perhaps you could consider awarding a "bounty" to current employees, based on the cost of using some outside service.

There have been some discussion threads on this topic in the last several months. Perhaps you can find them by using the "search" function.

Both the Social Security and the IRS have relatively inexpensive programs to help you find missing participants. This may be a good place to start.

Also there are many private companies who will do it for a slightly higher fee. A few of our clients have used a firm call "Pension Benefit Information" in Tiburon, California. They will search a little harder and provide you with a bit more info on the person.

I have also used PBI in a prior life. They have a service of comparing public death records with a plan's database, looking for "matches". The service was reasonable in price and performance. But I have no experience with them searching for missing participants.