Pension Benefit Information and RolloverSystems, Inc. Form Joint Venture Enabling 401(k) Plan Sponsors and Advisors to Easily Manage Terminated Participants' Accounts

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- RolloverSystems, Inc. (RSI) and Pension Benefit Information (PBI) today announced a partnership to help 401(k) plan sponsors, their advisors, and third-party administrators easily manage the accounts of terminated participants, keep their savings invested in retirement, and reduce plan costs.

The joint venture comes just as 401(k) plan sponsors are increasingly struggling to address the complex challenges created by retirement benefit accounts left behind by terminated participants, such as employees who have been laid off, have taken new jobs, or have retired.

The companies' new Compliance Plus(TM) IRA Solution provides:

• Missing Participant Services: Comprehensive and diligent search process to locate missing participants and/or locate their beneficiaries;
• Participant Communication: Communications that inform all participants of their options for continuing their retirement savings and deliver required notifications and disclosures;
• Access to The Retirement Center: Personalized participant support from licensed Rollover Counselors who provide objective guidance and streamlined rollover processing;
• Safe Harbor IRA: Transfer balances of unlocated and/or unresponsive participants directly to pre-approved safe harbor retirement accounts;
• Stale Dated Check Services: Reduce potential uncashed and returned checks by rolling over participants savings; and
• Rollover Compliance Report: Documentation of the efforts made to reunite participants with their benefits that satisfy fiduciary requirements under ERISA.
  

The new offering is made possible by combining PBI's industry-leading missing participant location services with RSI's industry leading terminated participant inventory management and personal retirement counseling.

"By teaming up, we can fulfill the Department of Labor's complex regulatory guidelines for our clients while looking after the retirement savings of their participants," said Susan McDonald, president and owner of PBI.

"Our combined solution provides the technology to locate and educate participants while also providing best-in-class personalized support and investment options," said Spencer Williams, RSI's CEO. "When we locate participants, we'll talk to them to help them decide to do with their nest eggs. And when we can't locate participants, we'll safeguard their savings."

The RSI Retirement Center, staffed with licensed rollover counselors, will provide participants with independent, objective guidance and access to IRAs, even for accounts with as little as one dollar. If a participant's savings roll into the automatic rollover IRA, they will have access to all the investment products within the RolloverSystems IRA network, including brands such as Fidelity, Principal, Wachovia, Janus, T-Rowe Price, Scottrade, and many more.

The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (EGTRRA) allows plan sponsors to automatically roll distributions under $5,000 into a safe harbor IRA, instead of being paid out in cash. Moving eligible rollover distributions into safe harbor IRAs can reduce the backlog of small accounts that build up on retirement plans and drive up costs, create administrative difficulties, and increase the risk of fiduciary liability.

About PBI
San Rafael based Pension Benefit Information (PBI) has spent nearly 30-years providing participant research services to the Benefits Industry. Considered the defacto standard; PBI has reunited over 1.5 million participants with their benefits. PBI's comprehensive diligent search process includes indentifying deceased participants, searching for beneficiaries and utilizing the IRS Letter Forwarding Service. PBI specializes in services designed to meet the complex standards of ERISA, and regulatory guidelines while eliminating costly or inefficient internal processes for clients.

About RSI
Charlotte-based RolloverSystems, Inc. (RSI) is an independent provider of rollover services for retirement plan sponsors, third party administrators, advisors and their terminated plan participants. RSI specializes in helping retirement plan sponsors provide retirement support to participants providing education on retirement options, access to an independent array of rollover options from leading marketplace IRA providers, and assistance with rollover, transfer or distribution processes through its Retirement Center. All terminated participants in a plan - regardless of account balance - receive this high-level of support, a service that is especially valuable to participants who otherwise would not have access to professional guidance.