I get this kind of question all the time in the Reader's Mailbag. Consider this a 'refresher' on how to find a company.

Question:

We recently had an Aunt that passed away and I fould a cancelled check payable to Colonial Penn Insurance.  I am trying to locate a phone number that I can call and see if the policy number that is on the check is inforce.

Answer:

I found the headquarters for Colonial Penn at 399 Market St., Philadelphia, PA through the DNB.com website. DNB has a free to use tool on the homepage. You simply enter the name of the company, and any address information (if you have it). The tool will identify if an address corresponds to a branch office or the headquarters of the company. Once I had the address of the company headquarters, I looked up the name of the company on Anywho.com and used the address to identify the right telephone number. In the end, I came up with this local telephone number:  (215) 928-8000.