PF Withdrawal for Home Loans:
EPF members can utilize the fund accumulated in their EPF account to facilitate their housing needs after three years of account opening. As per the newly added Para 68-BD in the EPF Scheme, 1952, EPF members can apply for a withdrawal of up to 90% of the accumulated corpus for either making the down payment of the house or for the payment of EMIs or for the construction of a new house.
Earlier, the maximum withdrawal amount was limited to the total contribution of the employee and the employer with interest of 36 months or the cost of the property, whichever was less. The member was also not required to be a member of the housing scheme to avail this facility. He just had to be a member of the EPF for five years.
After the insertion of Para 68-BD in the EPF Scheme, 1952, the members got more options to utilize their funds. The time limit (from account opening) has also been reduced to 3 years. The minimum PF balance of the member should be more than ₹ 20,000 either individually or including that of the spouse in case he/she is also a member of the EPFO. However, a member can withdraw the PF balance only once in a lifetime to pay for the property.
Some important features of home loans on EPF are as follows-
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- The applicant should be a member of a registered housing society having at least 10 members
- The bank can use the Commissioner’s certificate of PF contributions to calculate EMIs for withdrawal
- Composite claim forms can be used to avail this facility
- The member has to provide the letter of authorization for paying EMI from PF
- The facility can be clubbed with Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) to avail subsidy on housing.