PF amount withdrawal for home loan repayment, step-by-step guide

Employee Provident Fund Organization or EPFO is a scheme instated by the Government of India where the employer and employee contributes a specific amount every month that allows subscribers to make partial withdraws or 'advance' withdrawal, from the PF corpus under certain circumstances. It helps to build a corpus for your post-retirement life. 

Home loan interest rates have recently increased after the RBI repo rate increases. For both new and existing customers, some banks have raised their interest rates. Discussions on what borrowers should do to lower their interest payments against their outstanding loan amount arose as a result of the rising interest rates on house loans. They can consider prepaying their house loans in full or in part with the money from their Employees Provident Fund (EPF).

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EPF Balance can be withdrawn for repayment of home loan:
You can withdraw the EPF amount for the repayment of the home loan according to Section 68BB of the EPF scheme. The house must, however, be registered in the PF member's name either individually or jointly. The candidate for a house loan must have made PF contributions for at least ten years. After five years of uninterrupted service, the withdrawn PF amount will not be taxed.

How to withdraw your PF savings for repayment of home loan:

1. Login to the EPFO e-SEVA portal 
2. Enter your UAN, password and captcha code
3. Visit the section- ‘Online Services’
4. Enter your bank details
5. Read and confirm the terms and conditions
6. Select the reason for the withdrawal of EPF savings
7. Enter your address and other details and upload the document
8. After uploading, confirm T&C and get the aadhaar OTP on the registered mobile number
9. Your application will be submitted now.

In this case, you can use the EPF corpus to pay off the home loan and reduce your interest outlay if the home loan interest is larger than the EPF interest. You may be able to preserve your EPF corpus if the interest on your EPF is greater than or equivalent to the interest on your mortgage.