EPF Loan
An EPF (Employees’ Provident Fund) account holder can withdraw their funds from the account as a PF loan. The accumulated amount can be withdrawn partially in case the loan is taken for purchasing or repairing a house. The account holder should be in service for at least 5 years to be eligible to avail a loan against PF.
EPF Loan Interest Rate
EPF Loan refers to a premature withdrawal of funds accumulated in the EPF account. Therefore, a loan against EPF is not required to be repaid unlike a PPF (Public Provident Fund) loan and for that reason, there is no loan against PF interest rate. The cost needed to be paid for a loan against PF account is the amount that an account holder could have earned as an interest on the withdrawn amount if they had not made the withdrawal. The interest on EPF deposit is calculated on monthly running balance and at present, the rate is 8.1% p.a.
How to Apply EPF Loan?
Withdrawals against your PF account is more of an advance than a loan. You can take advances during the course of your employment under some conditions. Apart from the reason to take the advance, the number of years of service completed by you also plays a vital role. You have to submit the advance form and Form 31 along with other required documents to avail a loan against your PF balance.
If you are still wondering about how to apply PF loan, here is the answer:
If you want to avail a PF loan, apply online through the EPFO portal. Use your UAN login to the portal. Please note that individuals can log in to the EPFO portal only if their UAN activation process is complete.
EPF Loan Eligibility
The EPF personal loan eligibility depends on the purpose behind the withdrawal from EPF account. The purpose and limit of withdrawal are summarized in the table below:
| Withdrawal Reason | Withdrawal Limit | Minimum Years in Service | Other Terms & Conditions | ||||
| Education | Up to 50% of employee’s share of EPF contribution. | 7 | For education of self or children after 10th class. | ||||
| Marriage | Up to 50% of employee’s share of EPF contribution. | 7 | For marriage of self, children or siblings. | ||||
| Purchase of house/plot | Up to 36 times of monthly wages + dearness allowance (component of the salary) for home purchase and up to 24 times of monthly wages + dearness allowance for land purchase. | 5 | The land must be in the name of the employee/spouse or jointly owned. | ||||
| Medical treatment | 6 times of wages + dearness allowance. | N/A |
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| Home loan payment | Up to 90% from employee’s contribution & employer contribution in EPF. | 10 |
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| Calamity | Up to 50% of the employee share. | N/A | Employer has to provide the certificates of damage. | ||||
| Addition/alteration of house | 12 times of employee’s wages. | 5 |
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| Lockout | Equal to employee’s unpaid wages. | N/A | Employer must not be getting wages for the last 2 months or the company must be closed for at least 15 days. | ||||
| Withdrawal before the retirement | Up to 90% of accumulated balance with interest. | 57 years | For self only |
Additional requirements to file online claims for EPF withdrawal:
- Your Universal Account Number (UAN) must be activated.
- The mobile number that was used to activate your UAN must be active for receiving OTP.
- Your Aadhaar Card details must be seeded in the EPFO database and you should have availed OTP based facility for the verification of eKYC from UIDAI while submitting the claim.
- Your bank account details as well as IFSC code must be saved in the EPFO database.
- You must have seeded your PAN number in the EPFO database for the final settlement of EPF claims if your period of service is below 5 years.
Documents Required for EPF Loan
You will require any one of the following Claim Forms to withdraw any amount from your EPF account:
- Form 19: For the Final EPF Settlement.
- Form 10-C: For pension withdrawal benefit.
- Form 31: For partial withdrawal (advance) of EPF for an emergency. It can be directly accessed through the
- Member Interface of EPFO Unified Portal.
- Please note that you do not require any additional document for loan against PF amount. Submitting a duly filled and signed Form 31 is sufficient for such partial withdrawals.
PF Loan Status
You can check the status of your EPF advance claim by following the steps mentioned below:
- Visit the official website of EPFO and go to the “Services” tab.
- Click the “For Employees” option.
- Then go to the “Services” section and click on the “Know Your Claim Status” option.
- Enter your UAN as well as password to login.
- Provide your EPF account number, establishment code, and the state of your PF office to check your EPF claim status.
FAQs
Yes. If you have an EPF account, you can withdraw funds from the account as a loan against EPFO. Partial withdrawal is possible if the loan is taken for buying/repairing a house. The employee should be in the service for at least 5 years to be eligible to get a loan against PF.
You can take advances against EPF during the course of your employment under some conditions. Apart from the reason to take advance, the number of years of service completed by you also plays a vital role. You have to submit the advance form and Form 31 along with other required documents to avail a loan against PF balance.
You can take loan from your PF account by withdrawing EPF entirely or partially for
The purpose of marriage, medical expenses, education, purchase of land, purchase/ or construction of a house, home loan repayment, house renovation, retirement, or unemployment.
Loan against PF from bank refers to a premature withdrawal of funds accumulated in your EPF account. Therefore, it is not required to be repaid unlike a PPF (Public Provident Fund) loan.
The various schemes under the EPFO are mentioned below:
- Employees’ Provident Funds Scheme 1952 (EPF)
- Employees’ Pension Scheme 1995 (EPS)
- Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme 1976 (EDLI)
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