Data Disclaimers

Effective date: May 4, 2026

This page explains where the data inside 401kHunter comes from, how the system processes it, and the limits you should keep in mind when acting on what we show you. Read it once before you put any of this data in front of a prospect or use it to inform a business decision.

Where our data comes from

Plan-level data is sourced from U.S. Department of Labor Form 5500 filings — the annual reports employers file under ERISA. These filings are public records, available from efast.dol.gov. We ingest the bulk CSV releases the DOL publishes monthly.

Decision-maker contact data (names, titles, emails, phone numbers) is sourced from third-party B2B data providers, primarily Apollo.io. We do not collect this data ourselves and we do not own it. We resolve it on demand at the moment you spend a credit.

Automated processing

Every step between the raw filings and what you see on the screen is automated:

• Ingestion of DOL bulk files (parsing, normalizing, deduplicating)
• Mapping a sponsor on a Form 5500 to a real-world company
• Inferring that company's domain
• Selecting a likely decision-maker from third-party people data
• Computing fee ratios, plan scores, and insights

These outputs are not human-reviewed. The system uses rules, heuristics, and statistical matching. Errors and omissions can occur at every step. Treat outputs as a high-volume triage and research tool, not as verified facts about a specific company or person.

Identity resolution is probabilistic

Linking a Form 5500 sponsor name to a real-world company is a fuzzy match. Names drift between filings, employers use legal names that differ from their operating brand (DBA), parents and subsidiaries share names, and unrelated companies sometimes share names entirely. Our match may be wrong, may attach to the wrong subsidiary, or may collapse two distinct entities into one. Confirm identity before acting on a contact match.

Company domains are inferred

Form 5500 filings do not include a website or domain field. We infer the company's domain from web search, contextual signals, and the third-party data we resolve. The inferred domain is a best guess and may be incorrect, may point at a parent or subsidiary, may be stale, or may reflect a directory listing rather than the company's site.

Decision-maker matching

When you unlock a decision-maker, we run an automated lookup that combines (a) the inferred company identity, (b) participant count to bias toward role seniority, and (c) NAICS-driven heuristics about likely job titles for plan-decision authority (CFO, HR director, managing partner, owner, etc.). We then resolve a candidate from a third-party people-data provider and reveal contact details.

This process can identify the wrong individual. It can return someone whose role no longer matches their cached title, someone who left the company, or someone whose record looks similar but is not actually the plan's decision-maker. Verify the person before any outreach.

Confidence signals, not guarantees

Where we expose confidence-related metadata — email verification status, identity-match attempt mode (id-based vs identity-based), how many title attempts the lookup tried, Apollo's waterfall outcome — these are prioritization signals to help you decide what to verify first. They are not warranties. A "verified" email from a third-party provider is the provider's claim about that address at the time it was indexed, not our independent confirmation.

Third-party data accuracy

We do not verify, audit, or guarantee the accuracy of any third-party data displayed in the Service. This includes contact data sourced from Apollo.io and any other B2B providers we integrate with, as well as the underlying public Form 5500 data published by the DOL. Inaccuracies, outdated entries, mis-attributed records, and missing data exist and will continue to exist. Independent verification is your responsibility.

Data freshness

• Form 5500 lag. Plans typically file 7–12 months after their plan-year end. The most recent year you see in our database may be 12–18 months old. Treat plan-level data as a lagging indicator.
• Sponsor metadata between filings. Address, phone, and administrator details only update when the sponsor files. They can be stale for over a year.
• Contact data. Third-party providers refresh their records on their own schedules. People change roles, leave companies, or change emails frequently. Verify a contact before any outreach, regardless of confidence metadata.

Known data quality limits

• Sponsor name variation: the same employer may appear under slightly different names across years (legal name vs. DBA, with or without "Inc", etc.). We do not always resolve these to a single canonical entity.
• Multiemployer / Taft-Hartley plans: these are union- sponsored plans where the "sponsor" is a joint board, not a single employer. Decision-maker lookups for these plans typically do not resolve.
• Welfare benefit plans: some Form 5500 filings cover non-retirement benefits (health, life, disability). We flag these separately; they are not retirement-plan takeover candidates.
• Filing errors: sponsors occasionally mis-file (wrong year, wrong assets value, missing schedules). We do not correct filing errors. We display what the DOL published.
• Decision-maker mismatches: see the Decision-maker matching section above. The match can surface the wrong individual.

How fee grading works

Our fee grade (A, B, C, D) for a plan is calculated as:

administrative expenses (Schedule H or I) ÷ end-of-year assets

Thresholds: A ≤ 0.5%, B 0.5–1.0%, C 1.0–1.5%, D > 1.5%.

This is a simplified screening metric. It uses only the administrative-expense figure reported on Schedule H or Schedule I. It does not capture:

• investment-management fees paid through expense ratios on plan investments
• revenue-sharing arrangements paid by funds to the recordkeeper
• indirect or embedded fees not surfaced as line-item plan expenses
• fees paid by the sponsor outside the plan (which would not appear in plan-level expense data)
• differences between recordkeeping, custody, advisory, and audit fees, which the score does not separate

Use the fee grade as a triage signal, not as a fee benchmarking opinion. Any prospect-facing analysis should rely on the underlying Schedule H/I/C disclosures and a review of the plan's 408(b)(2) fee schedule.

Plan scorecards & insights

Plan scorecards, the insights engine, peer benchmarks, and any opportunity scores or comparisons we display are computed entirely from the data described above. They are algorithmic outputs derived from incomplete and potentially delayed data. They are not investment recommendations, fiduciary opinions, or solicitations. They are pattern-matching signals to help you triage your prospect list.

Peer comparisons (percentile bands, "you're paying X bps above the median plan your size") compare a plan to other plans in our dataset of comparable scale. They do not adjust for plan design, investment lineup, or service mix and should not be presented as a fee benchmarking conclusion without further analysis.

No investment, legal, or fiduciary advice

Nothing on the Service constitutes investment advice, legal advice, fiduciary recommendation, tax advice, or solicitation to buy or sell any security or service. Use of the Service does not create a fiduciary, advisory, or attorney-client relationship between you and 401kHunter. You are responsible for performing independent due diligence before contacting any plan, advising any client, or making any business decision based on data shown here.

Outreach compliance is your responsibility

Phone numbers and email addresses surfaced by the Service may be subject to TCPA, CAN-SPAM, state Do-Not-Call lists, FINRA / SEC marketing rules, and other regulations applicable to your business.

• We do not screen contacts against any Do-Not-Call registry or compliance list.
• We do not verify consent or opt-in status for any contact surfaced through the Service.
• We do not warrant that an email address or phone number is appropriate for solicitation under the laws applicable to your jurisdiction or business.

Compliance with applicable outreach laws is solely your responsibility. See our Terms of Service for full details.

Refund policy

When you spend a credit on a decision-maker lookup or signer enrich and the system cannot find usable contact data — the underlying provider returns no match, or returns a record missing key fields — the credit is automatically refunded to your balance. You will see a refund notification on the plan detail page. Phone-reveal credits are charged only when phones are returned by the provider; nothing is charged on a no-result phone lookup.

Subscription fees are not refundable for partial billing periods. To stop billing, cancel from your billing settings before your next renewal — your access continues through the end of the current period.

Reporting an inaccuracy or removal request

If you believe data displayed about you or your organization is incorrect, or if you wish to be removed from contact-data lookups, email support@401khunter.com from an address that can be tied to the record (e.g. an address at the company in question, or one that matches the contact record itself). Include the EIN and plan number where applicable, and a brief description of the issue.

We need to confirm the requester has a legitimate connection to the record before we act on a correction or removal — both to prevent third parties from suppressing legitimate public-record data and to prevent harassment-style takedown requests. We will investigate and, where appropriate, remove or correct the entry. For removal of the underlying public Form 5500 data itself, contact the U.S. Department of Labor — we cannot alter public records.