PENSION AND LAWSUIT FUNDS GUIDE FOR FORMER CBT/BNE/FLEET/BofA EMPLOYEES; also Maine National, Rhode Island Trust and the banks that eventually rolled up into Bank of New England.
THE PENSION/LAWSUIT PUZZLE STORY
Please note: This document is updated from time to time as we collect more facts. Scroll down for more information on updated contact numbers at each institution holding our pension funds.
CBT, Before and After the BNE Merger
Pensions were managed in-house. When an employee retired, the Personnel Department reviewed their pension benefits with them and authorized their pension checks to be sent/deposited.
BNE Pensions in the Massachusetts and Maine banks after the merger were held at New York Life, as far as we can tell. (Glastonbury's Citizens Bank & Trust offered no pensions to its employees.) However, employees who came in from Patriots Bank and its predecessors may have pension money at Manulife under GA2881301. Call them on 1-800-333-2526. Similarly, employees who came in from Old Colony and its predecessor banks may have pension money at MetLife under GA123A. Call them on 770-913-6313. Also, people who came in from Northern Connecticut National Bank originally had their pensions held at Manulife. Call Manulife on 1-800-333-2526. At least some of the NCNB pensions, if not all, have been transferred to John Hancock. Call them on 1-800-294-3575.
Bankruptcy of BNE on January 6, 1991; FDIC took over assets as New BNE January 7, 1991.
All employees were declared vested, regardless of years of service. Included in the list of vested employees were those on the payroll from 1986 on; about 16,000 names were on the list in total. There were about 14,000 employees at the time.
FDIC set up an extra employee annuity held by John Hancock and funded it from January – July 1991. (John Hancock has found all of these particular annuitants.) However, in December 2014 John Hancock purchased some BNE pension annuities from New York Life; New York Life has held many of BNE's pensions for a long time.
Ben Branch, Trustee, and Janet Mueller were attorneys who worked on BNE employees’ behalf to be sure their pension funds were set aside for the employees. However, Ben Branch decided that the BNE pensions were "overfunded" and took a portion from each person's pension to pay off other creditors of the bankruptcy. The total clawback was $50,000,000 originally. This caused the employees and former employees to bring a *class action lawsuit to restore the money that had been taken from each pension.
Fleet bought the "bridge" banks, the New BNE, New CBT, New Maine National, New Old Colony, etc. on July 14, 1991.
Pensions now were split among New York Life, John Hancock, and Fidelity. Some former employees were offered the option of taking out their pension money into private (IRA) accounts in October – December of 1991. The employees had to take action by November of 1992 and would have been sent a 1099R for their tax records. These pension funds are NOT to be confused with 401(k) money, what we called the “BNE Thrift Plan.” The Thrift Plan had money that employees put in, and the bank put in matching dollars. We controlled the investments of those funds, choosing from among three options, one of which was BNE stock. The pension money, however, was accumulated by the bank for us and invested on our behalf.
*1992 a class action lawsuit was brought on behalf of any person who had been employed at BNE, including predecessor banks such as CBT and Maine National. Checks were sent to these people from 1997 through 2000 from Walker, Truesdell & Radick. The names of the 1,100+ people who were not found were sent to the PBGC, along with the money (approximately $1.38 million) still owed to them to this day. They are listed on the PBGC's website, www.pbgc.gov, marked “Bank of New England” and "New Bank of New England." (Please note that the PBGC loses the Bank of New England file off their website at certain times. Contact us at [email protected] if you need help with your search.)
1995 - The bankruptcy court trustee, Ben Branch, hired a firm called Capital Services Corporation to mail a document to BNE pensioners. The document offered a chance to receive a lump sum payout of their pension. The pensioners had to respond by May 20, 1995. Capital Services Corporation was then responsible for processing and mailing the checks to those who had opted for the payouts. It is unclear what happened to the undeliverable mail that was returned, or the money. No one has a list of those names, the check amounts, and the final destination of the money that was not distributed due to undeliverable mail. Likewise, no one has a list of those who opted to not take a lump sum.
January 1997 - Fleet Bank ended defined benefit pensions and used a cash balance calculation, taking money away from people's pension funds. (See Donna Richards Class Action Lawsuit, below.) The amount removed from people's pensions was up to 50% of their total pension amounts.
March 1997 -- Some former CBT/BNE employees, about 1200, received a notice from the Aetna, letting those people know that their pensions were being transferred out to the Aetna. Aetna holds those pensions to this day under Contract number GA-13802. They are still holding pension money for about 50 missing annuitants from CBT/BNE, along with the people whose pensions are being paid monthly from Aetna.
2004 - Present -- The CBT Alumni Club got involved to unravel the puzzle and to speak on behalf of former BNE employees to all the institutions and people who had been or still are involved in our pensions and lawsuit money. Extensive research was and is being done to locate those who are missing out on their pension money.
Current Status
Some employees’ names were never sent to the PBGC as being owed pension money. None of the insurance companies (Aetna, New York Life, John Hancock, or Fidelity) have any record of their pensions. They are not currently receiving any pension from anywhere. They did not take the lump sum option after the bank became Fleet Bank. In these cases, the individuals should contact us on [email protected] or call: 860-788-5900 for help. Leave a message and Noreen will get back to you.
One note for spouses of deceased CBTers: We had survivor benefits for our pensions for spouses. Even if your spouse died before turning 65, there may still be a survivor benefit held for you. If your spouse died before 1991, the chances are that the pension is held at Aetna. The other possibility is that the pension is held at New York Life, but as far as we know, this would be for those whose spouses worked into the Bank of New England years, which began about 1985. It doesn't cost a dime to call each of those places. The contact numbers are below, on this page. If your CBT/BNE spouse died after turning age 65 and never collected any of their pension, you are owed the back pension payments that should have been paid monthly when your spouse was alive and you should also receive monthly payments for the rest of your life.
If you have questions, or just need some encouragement or help to find your money, email: [email protected].
*Two more class action lawsuits were brought, one on behalf of people who were working at Fleet in 1996 (the so-called “cash balance” or "Donna Richards" lawsuit); and another for those who worked at Fleet in any of the years 1998 – 2003 (the so-called “Columbia Funds” lawsuit). The second, smaller checks were sent out in April and May 2016.
Dear Former Bank of New England Colleague;
Our non-profit, the CBT Alumni Club, Inc., is the last legal entity from the old days of Bank of New England. We have a website: www.cbtclub.org. Our Board of Directors has been working hard on our pension search as a service to everyone who worked at BNE or at BNE’s subsidiary banks.
We have nothing to gain from this, but we are hoping to help our former colleagues locate ALL of the money owed to them from our banking years. We hope that this will help you find the money justly owed to you. Please also note that in some cases, spouses or heirs are owed money from pensions and lawsuits on behalf of our deceased colleagues. We each need to pitch in and spread the word to as many Bank of New England employees, their spouses, or their heirs as we possibly can. No one else will do this for us. We are it!
The guide below takes each of us from our particular date of leaving the bank and leads us to our funds. You will see that many of us may have money tucked away at more than one institution. Do not be afraid to call or write to these places; this is our money and we are justly owed the funds assigned to us. These funds are in addition to our 401K money; they are defined benefit pension funds.
Go seek out your funds! We would love to hear about any successes you may have. Many thanks to those who have contacted us to let us know that they found their pension money.
ALL PENSION BENEFITS ARE OWED AS OF THE DATE THE FORMER EMPLOYEE TURNED 65, OR AS OF THE DATE OF DEATH FOR SPOUSES. BACK PAYMENTS ARE HELD IN PERPETUITY, UNTIL CLAIMED.
Please note: More than one person has found that their Social Security Number was recorded with digits switched, and that is why they were not given their pension funds. Ask to have your money searched by your name(s) if your correct Social Security Number is not on file.
CBT/BNE Employees Who Left or Retired Before August 1990:
Two or Three Places to check, depending on the date you left
As far as we know, these pension funds are almost all held by Aetna, but only for those who worked in the Connecticut bank, CBT. The rest are at New York Life, John Hancock, or held directly by the federal government. If you are 65 and not currently receiving a monthly pension from Aetna, or if you are under 65 and would like to have verification that your pension funds are being held for you there, contact: Aetna Life Insurance Company. Call on them 1-800-952-2700 for the Large Case Pensions area. Tell them your current name and previous names, Social Security Number, date of birth, telephone, and address. They only know us as "Bank of New England" (not "CBT") and our pensions are under #GA-13802.
New York Life's contact information is:
The contract is under Bank of New England #GA 30824. You can call them on 1-800-695-0462 and select Option 4. The customer service person will ask for your Social Security Number and look it up for you to see whether New York Life is holding any pension money for you.
John Hancock has some of the BNE pensions that had previously been held at New York Life. If New York Life does not have your pension, you can call John Hancock on 1-800-294-3575.
Note: State National employees who left State National before the merger with CBT have their pension funds at New York Life, as far as we can tell. You can contact them on 1-800-695-0462 and select Option 4.
CBT/BNE Employees Who Worked in 1990 and Who Worked Into 1991 or Were on Severance into 1991 Regardless of Years of Service:
Three Places to Check
Employees on the payroll at this time were automatically considered vested, regardless of how long they worked at BNE. BNE was declared bankrupt on January 6, 1991 and reopened by the FDIC on January 7, 1991 as the New Bank of New England.
You may be eligible for all of the following, or some of them.
1. Pension funds for employees who worked at BNE after August 1990 were moved to New York Life. If you need to check for your pension there, contact them as follows:
The contract is under Bank of New England #GA 30824. You can contact them on 1-800-695-0462 and select Option 4. The customer service person will ask for your Social Security Number and look it up for you to see whether New York Life is holding any pension money for you.
John Hancock has some of the BNE pensions that had previously been held at New York Life. If New York Life does not have your pension, you can call John Hancock on 1-800-294-3575.
And!
2. Check the list of names below. If your name is on it, contact the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation: 1-800-400-7242. Contact us on [email protected] or call us on 860-788-5900 if your name is listed below and the PBGC customer service person says they cannot find your name in their database. The training of those working the phones is minimal and several times they have turned people away who do have money being held at the PBGC.
CBT/BNE Employees Who Worked into the Fleet years:
Five/Six Places to check
1. Pension funds for employees who worked at BNE after August 1990 were moved to New York Life. Most people have the bulk of their pension money there. If you need to check for your pension there, contact them as follows:
The contract is under Bank of New England #GA 30824. You can call them on 1-800-695-0462 and select Option 4. The customer service person will ask for your Social Security Number and look it up for you to see whether New York Life is holding any pension money for you.
John Hancock has some of the BNE pensions that had previously been held at New York Life. If New York Life does not have your pension, you can call John Hancock on 1-800-294-3575.
And!
Fleet purchased some of the assets of BNE in July 1991. There are three more places you may have funds.
2. Fleet had its own separate pension plan for a few years before going back to New York Life. Employees who worked during the Fleet years may have a separate and additional pension fund at Fidelity. To find out whether you have any pension at Fidelity, contact them on two separate numbers: 1-800-556-6044 and 1-800-457-5700. The staff on one of those numbers does not have access to the database at the other, so you need to call each of the numbers to be thorough.
And!
3. Anyone who worked at Fleet any of the years from 1998 to 2003 may be owed money from the Columbia Funds class action suit that was settled in June 2008. To find out whether you have any money being held for you, contact the Settlement Administrator on 1-877-690-7105. The second, smaller checks were sent out in April and May 2016.
And!
4. A class action suit, the so-called Donna Richards suit, was brought based on the conversion of FleetBoston’s pension plan to a cash balance formula. To find out whether you have any money being held for you in any account, call Fidelity on two separate numbers: 1-800-556-6044 and 1-800-457-5700. As of 2016, most people have claimed their money, with the exception of the $199 awards that were courtesy awards to those who had not been harmed by the cash balance recalculation.
And!
5. Check the list of names below. If your name is on it, contact: The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp, which has a list of former BNE employees who were never contacted about their pension funds. Their number is 1-800-400-7242. Please note that there was a total of about 1,000 names sent to the PBGC for just the restoration of the smaller amount of the money removed in 1991 by the bankruptcy court to pay off other creditors. Only a portion of the names appears below. Contact us on [email protected] or call us on 860-788-5900 if your name is listed below and the PBGC customer service person says they cannot find your name in their database. The training of those working the phones is minimal and several times they have turned people away who do have money being held at the PBGC.
CBT/BNE Employees Who Worked into the Bank of America years, 2004 and after:
Five/Six places sources to check
1. Pension funds for employees who worked at BNE after August 1990 were moved to New York Life. Most people have the bulk of their money there. If you need to check for your pension there, contact them as follows:
The contract is under Bank of New England #GA 30824. You can contact them on 1-800-695-0462 and select Option 4. The customer service person will ask for your Social Security Number and look it up for you to see whether New York Life is holding any pension money for you.
John Hancock has some of the BNE pensions that had previously been held at New York Life. If New York Life does not have your pension, you can call John Hancock on 1-800-294-3575.
And!
Fleet purchased the good assets of BNE in July 1991. There are two more places you may have funds.
2. Fleet had its own separate pension plan for a few years before going back to New York Life. Employees who worked during the Fleet years may have a separate and additional pension fund at Fidelity. To find out whether you have any money being held for you, contact Fidelity on two separate numbers: 1-800-556-6044 and 1-800-457-5700. The staff on one of those numbers does not have access to the database at the other, so you need to call each of the numbers to be thorough.
And!
3. Anyone who worked at Fleet during any of the years from 1998 to 2003 may be owed money from the Columbia Funds class action suit settled in June 2008. To find out whether you have any money being held for you, contact the Settlement Administrator on 1-877-690-7105. The second, smaller checks were sent out in April and May 2016.
And!
4. A class action suit, the so-called Donna Richards suit, was brought based on the conversion of FleetBoston’s pension plan to a cash balance formula. To find out whether you have any money being held for you in any account, call Fidelity on two separate numbers: 1-800-556-6044 and 1-800-457-5700. As of 2016, most people have claimed their money, with the exception of the $199 awards that were courtesy awards to those who had not been harmed by the cash balance recalculation.
And!
5. Check the list of names below. If your name is on it, contact: The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp, which has a list of former BNE employees who were never contacted about this portion of their pension funds. Contact us on [email protected] or call us on 860-788-5900 if your name is listed below and the PBGC customer service person says they cannot find your name in their database. The training of those working the phones is minimal and several times they have turned people away who do have money being held at the PBGC.
EXTRA INFORMATION AND CONTACT NUMBERS
Anyone is welcome to join the CBT Alumni Club, Inc. for $7. See our Home page or email us at [email protected] for more information.
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp has a list of former BNE employees who were never contacted about their pension funds. Their number is 1-800-400-7242. Spanish speakers can call 1-800-326-5678. Contact us at [email protected] if you have problems when you contact the PBGC.
A partial list of those employees is below. We would very much like your help in finding them and giving them the information! Some people on this list have found that their Social Security Numbers were recorded incorrectly; that is why their pensions were lost and never received by them. We think this is a terrible injustice.
If you cannot locate your pension funds anywhere, call the FDIC Call Center: 1-877-275-3342.
Remember, we had 401K savings plans that we put funds into monthly and that the bank matched while we worked there. In addition, we had pension funds put aside for us by the bank which are protected by federal law and are to come to us as monthly checks or deposits after we reach age 65, whether we continue working or not.
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THE NAMES BELOW USED TO APPEAR ON www.pbgc.gov as some of the BNE employees who have unclaimed pension money waiting for them. (The PBGC recently took down the names from their website.) This is just a small portion of the thousands of BNE employees who do have pensions held at various places. Please help us find them! Send any information to [email protected]. Thanks so much for any help you can offer. A note that as of 2022, many of these people have claimed their money. Hurray!
We are up to over $4 million in recovered funds as of 2019, for about 1,000 colleagues. A few of our success stories are below.
Updated May 18, 2019.
THE PENSION/LAWSUIT PUZZLE STORY
Please note: This document is updated from time to time as we collect more facts. Scroll down for more information on updated contact numbers at each institution holding our pension funds.
CBT, Before and After the BNE Merger
Pensions were managed in-house. When an employee retired, the Personnel Department reviewed their pension benefits with them and authorized their pension checks to be sent/deposited.
BNE Pensions in the Massachusetts and Maine banks after the merger were held at New York Life, as far as we can tell. (Glastonbury's Citizens Bank & Trust offered no pensions to its employees.) However, employees who came in from Patriots Bank and its predecessors may have pension money at Manulife under GA2881301. Call them on 1-800-333-2526. Similarly, employees who came in from Old Colony and its predecessor banks may have pension money at MetLife under GA123A. Call them on 770-913-6313. Also, people who came in from Northern Connecticut National Bank originally had their pensions held at Manulife. Call Manulife on 1-800-333-2526. At least some of the NCNB pensions, if not all, have been transferred to John Hancock. Call them on 1-800-294-3575.
Bankruptcy of BNE on January 6, 1991; FDIC took over assets as New BNE January 7, 1991.
All employees were declared vested, regardless of years of service. Included in the list of vested employees were those on the payroll from 1986 on; about 16,000 names were on the list in total. There were about 14,000 employees at the time.
FDIC set up an extra employee annuity held by John Hancock and funded it from January – July 1991. (John Hancock has found all of these particular annuitants.) However, in December 2014 John Hancock purchased some BNE pension annuities from New York Life; New York Life has held many of BNE's pensions for a long time.
Ben Branch, Trustee, and Janet Mueller were attorneys who worked on BNE employees’ behalf to be sure their pension funds were set aside for the employees. However, Ben Branch decided that the BNE pensions were "overfunded" and took a portion from each person's pension to pay off other creditors of the bankruptcy. The total clawback was $50,000,000 originally. This caused the employees and former employees to bring a *class action lawsuit to restore the money that had been taken from each pension.
Fleet bought the "bridge" banks, the New BNE, New CBT, New Maine National, New Old Colony, etc. on July 14, 1991.
Pensions now were split among New York Life, John Hancock, and Fidelity. Some former employees were offered the option of taking out their pension money into private (IRA) accounts in October – December of 1991. The employees had to take action by November of 1992 and would have been sent a 1099R for their tax records. These pension funds are NOT to be confused with 401(k) money, what we called the “BNE Thrift Plan.” The Thrift Plan had money that employees put in, and the bank put in matching dollars. We controlled the investments of those funds, choosing from among three options, one of which was BNE stock. The pension money, however, was accumulated by the bank for us and invested on our behalf.
*1992 a class action lawsuit was brought on behalf of any person who had been employed at BNE, including predecessor banks such as CBT and Maine National. Checks were sent to these people from 1997 through 2000 from Walker, Truesdell & Radick. The names of the 1,100+ people who were not found were sent to the PBGC, along with the money (approximately $1.38 million) still owed to them to this day. They are listed on the PBGC's website, www.pbgc.gov, marked “Bank of New England” and "New Bank of New England." (Please note that the PBGC loses the Bank of New England file off their website at certain times. Contact us at [email protected] if you need help with your search.)
1995 - The bankruptcy court trustee, Ben Branch, hired a firm called Capital Services Corporation to mail a document to BNE pensioners. The document offered a chance to receive a lump sum payout of their pension. The pensioners had to respond by May 20, 1995. Capital Services Corporation was then responsible for processing and mailing the checks to those who had opted for the payouts. It is unclear what happened to the undeliverable mail that was returned, or the money. No one has a list of those names, the check amounts, and the final destination of the money that was not distributed due to undeliverable mail. Likewise, no one has a list of those who opted to not take a lump sum.
January 1997 - Fleet Bank ended defined benefit pensions and used a cash balance calculation, taking money away from people's pension funds. (See Donna Richards Class Action Lawsuit, below.) The amount removed from people's pensions was up to 50% of their total pension amounts.
March 1997 -- Some former CBT/BNE employees, about 1200, received a notice from the Aetna, letting those people know that their pensions were being transferred out to the Aetna. Aetna holds those pensions to this day under Contract number GA-13802. They are still holding pension money for about 50 missing annuitants from CBT/BNE, along with the people whose pensions are being paid monthly from Aetna.
2004 - Present -- The CBT Alumni Club got involved to unravel the puzzle and to speak on behalf of former BNE employees to all the institutions and people who had been or still are involved in our pensions and lawsuit money. Extensive research was and is being done to locate those who are missing out on their pension money.
Current Status
Some employees’ names were never sent to the PBGC as being owed pension money. None of the insurance companies (Aetna, New York Life, John Hancock, or Fidelity) have any record of their pensions. They are not currently receiving any pension from anywhere. They did not take the lump sum option after the bank became Fleet Bank. In these cases, the individuals should contact us on [email protected] or call: 860-788-5900 for help. Leave a message and Noreen will get back to you.
One note for spouses of deceased CBTers: We had survivor benefits for our pensions for spouses. Even if your spouse died before turning 65, there may still be a survivor benefit held for you. If your spouse died before 1991, the chances are that the pension is held at Aetna. The other possibility is that the pension is held at New York Life, but as far as we know, this would be for those whose spouses worked into the Bank of New England years, which began about 1985. It doesn't cost a dime to call each of those places. The contact numbers are below, on this page. If your CBT/BNE spouse died after turning age 65 and never collected any of their pension, you are owed the back pension payments that should have been paid monthly when your spouse was alive and you should also receive monthly payments for the rest of your life.
If you have questions, or just need some encouragement or help to find your money, email: [email protected].
*Two more class action lawsuits were brought, one on behalf of people who were working at Fleet in 1996 (the so-called “cash balance” or "Donna Richards" lawsuit); and another for those who worked at Fleet in any of the years 1998 – 2003 (the so-called “Columbia Funds” lawsuit). The second, smaller checks were sent out in April and May 2016.
Dear Former Bank of New England Colleague;
Our non-profit, the CBT Alumni Club, Inc., is the last legal entity from the old days of Bank of New England. We have a website: www.cbtclub.org. Our Board of Directors has been working hard on our pension search as a service to everyone who worked at BNE or at BNE’s subsidiary banks.
We have nothing to gain from this, but we are hoping to help our former colleagues locate ALL of the money owed to them from our banking years. We hope that this will help you find the money justly owed to you. Please also note that in some cases, spouses or heirs are owed money from pensions and lawsuits on behalf of our deceased colleagues. We each need to pitch in and spread the word to as many Bank of New England employees, their spouses, or their heirs as we possibly can. No one else will do this for us. We are it!
The guide below takes each of us from our particular date of leaving the bank and leads us to our funds. You will see that many of us may have money tucked away at more than one institution. Do not be afraid to call or write to these places; this is our money and we are justly owed the funds assigned to us. These funds are in addition to our 401K money; they are defined benefit pension funds.
Go seek out your funds! We would love to hear about any successes you may have. Many thanks to those who have contacted us to let us know that they found their pension money.
ALL PENSION BENEFITS ARE OWED AS OF THE DATE THE FORMER EMPLOYEE TURNED 65, OR AS OF THE DATE OF DEATH FOR SPOUSES. BACK PAYMENTS ARE HELD IN PERPETUITY, UNTIL CLAIMED.
Please note: More than one person has found that their Social Security Number was recorded with digits switched, and that is why they were not given their pension funds. Ask to have your money searched by your name(s) if your correct Social Security Number is not on file.
CBT/BNE Employees Who Left or Retired Before August 1990:
Two or Three Places to check, depending on the date you left
As far as we know, these pension funds are almost all held by Aetna, but only for those who worked in the Connecticut bank, CBT. The rest are at New York Life, John Hancock, or held directly by the federal government. If you are 65 and not currently receiving a monthly pension from Aetna, or if you are under 65 and would like to have verification that your pension funds are being held for you there, contact: Aetna Life Insurance Company. Call on them 1-800-952-2700 for the Large Case Pensions area. Tell them your current name and previous names, Social Security Number, date of birth, telephone, and address. They only know us as "Bank of New England" (not "CBT") and our pensions are under #GA-13802.
New York Life's contact information is:
The contract is under Bank of New England #GA 30824. You can call them on 1-800-695-0462 and select Option 4. The customer service person will ask for your Social Security Number and look it up for you to see whether New York Life is holding any pension money for you.
John Hancock has some of the BNE pensions that had previously been held at New York Life. If New York Life does not have your pension, you can call John Hancock on 1-800-294-3575.
Note: State National employees who left State National before the merger with CBT have their pension funds at New York Life, as far as we can tell. You can contact them on 1-800-695-0462 and select Option 4.
CBT/BNE Employees Who Worked in 1990 and Who Worked Into 1991 or Were on Severance into 1991 Regardless of Years of Service:
Three Places to Check
Employees on the payroll at this time were automatically considered vested, regardless of how long they worked at BNE. BNE was declared bankrupt on January 6, 1991 and reopened by the FDIC on January 7, 1991 as the New Bank of New England.
You may be eligible for all of the following, or some of them.
1. Pension funds for employees who worked at BNE after August 1990 were moved to New York Life. If you need to check for your pension there, contact them as follows:
The contract is under Bank of New England #GA 30824. You can contact them on 1-800-695-0462 and select Option 4. The customer service person will ask for your Social Security Number and look it up for you to see whether New York Life is holding any pension money for you.
John Hancock has some of the BNE pensions that had previously been held at New York Life. If New York Life does not have your pension, you can call John Hancock on 1-800-294-3575.
And!
2. Check the list of names below. If your name is on it, contact the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation: 1-800-400-7242. Contact us on [email protected] or call us on 860-788-5900 if your name is listed below and the PBGC customer service person says they cannot find your name in their database. The training of those working the phones is minimal and several times they have turned people away who do have money being held at the PBGC.
CBT/BNE Employees Who Worked into the Fleet years:
Five/Six Places to check
1. Pension funds for employees who worked at BNE after August 1990 were moved to New York Life. Most people have the bulk of their pension money there. If you need to check for your pension there, contact them as follows:
The contract is under Bank of New England #GA 30824. You can call them on 1-800-695-0462 and select Option 4. The customer service person will ask for your Social Security Number and look it up for you to see whether New York Life is holding any pension money for you.
John Hancock has some of the BNE pensions that had previously been held at New York Life. If New York Life does not have your pension, you can call John Hancock on 1-800-294-3575.
And!
Fleet purchased some of the assets of BNE in July 1991. There are three more places you may have funds.
2. Fleet had its own separate pension plan for a few years before going back to New York Life. Employees who worked during the Fleet years may have a separate and additional pension fund at Fidelity. To find out whether you have any pension at Fidelity, contact them on two separate numbers: 1-800-556-6044 and 1-800-457-5700. The staff on one of those numbers does not have access to the database at the other, so you need to call each of the numbers to be thorough.
And!
3. Anyone who worked at Fleet any of the years from 1998 to 2003 may be owed money from the Columbia Funds class action suit that was settled in June 2008. To find out whether you have any money being held for you, contact the Settlement Administrator on 1-877-690-7105. The second, smaller checks were sent out in April and May 2016.
And!
4. A class action suit, the so-called Donna Richards suit, was brought based on the conversion of FleetBoston’s pension plan to a cash balance formula. To find out whether you have any money being held for you in any account, call Fidelity on two separate numbers: 1-800-556-6044 and 1-800-457-5700. As of 2016, most people have claimed their money, with the exception of the $199 awards that were courtesy awards to those who had not been harmed by the cash balance recalculation.
And!
5. Check the list of names below. If your name is on it, contact: The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp, which has a list of former BNE employees who were never contacted about their pension funds. Their number is 1-800-400-7242. Please note that there was a total of about 1,000 names sent to the PBGC for just the restoration of the smaller amount of the money removed in 1991 by the bankruptcy court to pay off other creditors. Only a portion of the names appears below. Contact us on [email protected] or call us on 860-788-5900 if your name is listed below and the PBGC customer service person says they cannot find your name in their database. The training of those working the phones is minimal and several times they have turned people away who do have money being held at the PBGC.
CBT/BNE Employees Who Worked into the Bank of America years, 2004 and after:
Five/Six places sources to check
1. Pension funds for employees who worked at BNE after August 1990 were moved to New York Life. Most people have the bulk of their money there. If you need to check for your pension there, contact them as follows:
The contract is under Bank of New England #GA 30824. You can contact them on 1-800-695-0462 and select Option 4. The customer service person will ask for your Social Security Number and look it up for you to see whether New York Life is holding any pension money for you.
John Hancock has some of the BNE pensions that had previously been held at New York Life. If New York Life does not have your pension, you can call John Hancock on 1-800-294-3575.
And!
Fleet purchased the good assets of BNE in July 1991. There are two more places you may have funds.
2. Fleet had its own separate pension plan for a few years before going back to New York Life. Employees who worked during the Fleet years may have a separate and additional pension fund at Fidelity. To find out whether you have any money being held for you, contact Fidelity on two separate numbers: 1-800-556-6044 and 1-800-457-5700. The staff on one of those numbers does not have access to the database at the other, so you need to call each of the numbers to be thorough.
And!
3. Anyone who worked at Fleet during any of the years from 1998 to 2003 may be owed money from the Columbia Funds class action suit settled in June 2008. To find out whether you have any money being held for you, contact the Settlement Administrator on 1-877-690-7105. The second, smaller checks were sent out in April and May 2016.
And!
4. A class action suit, the so-called Donna Richards suit, was brought based on the conversion of FleetBoston’s pension plan to a cash balance formula. To find out whether you have any money being held for you in any account, call Fidelity on two separate numbers: 1-800-556-6044 and 1-800-457-5700. As of 2016, most people have claimed their money, with the exception of the $199 awards that were courtesy awards to those who had not been harmed by the cash balance recalculation.
And!
5. Check the list of names below. If your name is on it, contact: The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp, which has a list of former BNE employees who were never contacted about this portion of their pension funds. Contact us on [email protected] or call us on 860-788-5900 if your name is listed below and the PBGC customer service person says they cannot find your name in their database. The training of those working the phones is minimal and several times they have turned people away who do have money being held at the PBGC.
EXTRA INFORMATION AND CONTACT NUMBERS
Anyone is welcome to join the CBT Alumni Club, Inc. for $7. See our Home page or email us at [email protected] for more information.
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp has a list of former BNE employees who were never contacted about their pension funds. Their number is 1-800-400-7242. Spanish speakers can call 1-800-326-5678. Contact us at [email protected] if you have problems when you contact the PBGC.
A partial list of those employees is below. We would very much like your help in finding them and giving them the information! Some people on this list have found that their Social Security Numbers were recorded incorrectly; that is why their pensions were lost and never received by them. We think this is a terrible injustice.
If you cannot locate your pension funds anywhere, call the FDIC Call Center: 1-877-275-3342.
Remember, we had 401K savings plans that we put funds into monthly and that the bank matched while we worked there. In addition, we had pension funds put aside for us by the bank which are protected by federal law and are to come to us as monthly checks or deposits after we reach age 65, whether we continue working or not.
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THE NAMES BELOW USED TO APPEAR ON www.pbgc.gov as some of the BNE employees who have unclaimed pension money waiting for them. (The PBGC recently took down the names from their website.) This is just a small portion of the thousands of BNE employees who do have pensions held at various places. Please help us find them! Send any information to [email protected]. Thanks so much for any help you can offer. A note that as of 2022, many of these people have claimed their money. Hurray!
We are up to over $4 million in recovered funds as of 2019, for about 1,000 colleagues. A few of our success stories are below.
Updated May 18, 2019.
A number of our colleagues who had no idea their pension funds were unclaimed are now obtaining them via the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC).
Two colleagues had pension money being held under incorrect Social Security Numbers, each with two digits reversed. They have corrected the “lost” pensions and will receive their funds.
Colleague’s name was misspelled and therefore the mail never reached her, telling her where her pension funds are being held. She has now located and claimed them.
Colleague’s names were reversed, first and last, in records of bankruptcy court and he was never notified as to where his pension is. He is now pursuing his funds.
Colleague’s spouse was told by Fleet Bank's Human Resources department that the 401k money was all he was due, after our colleague’s death. We have now connected spouse with both pension fund sources and lawsuit funds.
Daughter of former (deceased) colleague contacted holder of funds. Funds verified as owed to our colleague’s estate. Daughter submitting documents to obtain the funds owed.
Colleague in nursing home has POA who is pursuing her pension funds, of which she was unaware.
Colleague’s son is pursuing pension funds that his mother was unaware of during her lifetime, which never were received by her and now are owed to her estate.
Colleague’s daughter pursuing all of pension money, none of which was ever tapped, as colleague was unaware of the funds before his death.
Several colleagues who had received letters stating that they had been cashed out have discovered additional pension money being held at insurance companies other than the one they thought had been holding their funds originally.
Two colleagues had pension money being held under incorrect Social Security Numbers, each with two digits reversed. They have corrected the “lost” pensions and will receive their funds.
Colleague’s name was misspelled and therefore the mail never reached her, telling her where her pension funds are being held. She has now located and claimed them.
Colleague’s names were reversed, first and last, in records of bankruptcy court and he was never notified as to where his pension is. He is now pursuing his funds.
Colleague’s spouse was told by Fleet Bank's Human Resources department that the 401k money was all he was due, after our colleague’s death. We have now connected spouse with both pension fund sources and lawsuit funds.
Daughter of former (deceased) colleague contacted holder of funds. Funds verified as owed to our colleague’s estate. Daughter submitting documents to obtain the funds owed.
Colleague in nursing home has POA who is pursuing her pension funds, of which she was unaware.
Colleague’s son is pursuing pension funds that his mother was unaware of during her lifetime, which never were received by her and now are owed to her estate.
Colleague’s daughter pursuing all of pension money, none of which was ever tapped, as colleague was unaware of the funds before his death.
Several colleagues who had received letters stating that they had been cashed out have discovered additional pension money being held at insurance companies other than the one they thought had been holding their funds originally.