<prompt> Human: A few years ago I worked for a company that provided me with a 401K. I started with the company in 82011 and left the company in 32014. During that time I would get mail about a 401K that I had with the company. Ill be honest; I barely ever opened any of the mail or statements. I mostly ignored it as it seemed to just do its own thing. It was only this past month that I finally created an online account to look at my 401K and see what it was all about. My account balance showed 0. The last mailed statement I received was on 92015 which showed that it had about 3,500 in it. I had moved after that and never got around to fixing the mailing address until now.There is zero information on the website about what happened. The only thing I found was the last statement. It was on 32016; and it shows that my starting balance was about 3,500 and my final balance is 0.Under account summary; it shows a list of Reductions. Distributions as about 3,200 Amount Forfeited as about 250 TrusteeCustodian Fee at about 5 Recordkeeping Fee at about 12.The net change is -3,500.I dont understand what this means or what happened? Did I just forfeit my 401K for not touching it in years? Did my company take it back because I was short of my three years?Did someone else stealwithdraw my 401K without my knowledge?Any helpadvice is greatly appreciated. I am completely out of my element. No amount of googling has helped me figure out anything. Thank you in advance.  <response>: Distributions as about 3,200More than likely, your former employers 401k Summary Plan Description includes a Force-Out Clause that allows them to remove your assets from the plan, as long as your balance does not exceed 5,000. Where this money goes depends on how much your balance was: - If the amount was under 1,000, they are permitted to cut you a check. - If the amount was over 1,000 but below 5,000, they are permitted to roll the amount into an IRA in your name.My guess is that they rolled the amount over to an IRA, and now what you have to find out is where this IRA is. You can either call the Plan Administrator this is someone at your former employer, not the company that does the plan recordkeeping, or you may be able to find out from the plan recordkeeper the company who does the plan recordkeeping, likely the same company you made an account for. There is a good chance that the plan recordkeeper is the custodian of this IRA, though this isnt necessarily the case. 