How to Find an Old Annuity

An annuity is a type of life insurance contract, which guarantees a future lifetime income based on the contributions made into the policy. Some annuity owners never need the annuity income, allowing the assets to grow in the account tax-deferred until distributed. Annuities held for extended periods of time may be forgotten about with policies misplaced, owners moving and forgetting to provide address changes, and insurance company mergers. You can find an old annuity the same way you would locate an old life insurance policy.

• 1

  Look through any personal documents storage files you keep: desk drawers, safe deposit boxes, file cabinets and home safes. Search for any sign of an annuity, such as an old statement, tax return indicating a one-time distribution or check book register describing a contribution.

• 2

  Call the human resources department of previous employers. You may have rolled an employer retirement plan into an annuity with the employer maintaining a record of where funds were sent. Some employer plans allow the administrator to automatically roll assets over into a self-directed IRA if the balance is below $1,000; these funds may have gone into an annuity.

• 3

  Meet with customer service representatives of banks you currently have accounts at as well as banks you have dealt with in the past. Many banks offer fixed annuities through their premier services and offer both fixed and variable annuities through subsidiary financial services divisions. Provide your Social Security number to conduct a records search through the bank information. Do the same with brokerage firms, insurance agents and tax preparers.

• 4

  Use a locator service. Policy locator services charge a fee to search for policies or companies to which you may have applied for an insurance contract. MIB Solutions is recommended by the American Council of Life Insurers because it maintains a database of more than 170 million records and growing.

• 5

  Go to the state comptroller or division of unclaimed property. When any financial services provider, including life insurance companies, have "abandoned" accounts and policies, the assets are turned over to the comptroller under fiduciary management until claimed by the owner or the owner's heirs. Usually financial services companies turn assets over after 5 years.