CPF Rules and Early Repayment

When you own an HDB flat, it is important to understand how the CPF rules affect your ability to make housing loan repayments once you turn 55. Upon reaching that age, you will need to balance both your retirement and housing needs using your CPF savings.

Familiarise yourself with the following terms to help you plan ahead and prepare.

  • CPF Retirement Account
  • Using CPF to repay housing loans after you are 55
  • CPF contribution rates after you are 35
  • Early repayment of your HDB loan

Early repayment of your HDB loan

To reduce your financial commitments, you can also use your CPF Ordinary Account savings to make partial or full redemption of your outstanding housing loan before you reach 55. However, the CPF Withdrawal Housing Limits may apply.

 

CPF Retirement Account

Your CPF Retirement Account will be created for you when you turn 55. At this point, a portion of the savings in your CPF Ordinary Account and Special Account will be transferred to the Retirement Account to meet your applicable Retirement Sum.

Your CPF Retirement Sum

The Full Retirement Sum is $166,000 for people turning 55 from 1 January 2017. Upon reaching the Payout Age, CPF pays you a monthly income to support a basic standard of living during retirement. Based on the amount in your Retirement Account, you will either:

  • Be placed on the CPF LIFE scheme and receive monthly payouts for life
  • Be on the Retirement Sum Scheme, which provides monthly payouts for about 20 years

Using CPF to repay housing loans after 55

Using Your Ordinary Account

If you continue working after 55, you can still use the monthly contribution that goes into your Ordinary Account to service your housing loan. This means that even if you have not met the Full Retirement Sum upon reaching 55, you can still use your Ordinary Account contributions for your housing loan repayments.

Using your Retirement Account

After setting aside the Basic Retirement Sum (i.e. half of the Full Retirement Sum), you may use the excess savings, excluding CPF top-ups and interest, for your housing loan repayments.
 
For example: If you have turned 55 and your applicable Full Retirement Sum is $161,000, you can use the Retirement Account amount in excess of $80,500 (excluding top-ups and accrued Retirement Account interest) for your housing loan repayments.

CPF Housing Withdrawal Limits

Please note that the CPF Housing Withdrawal Limits may apply in either instance. This limit helps to protect you from overspending on housing loan repayments at the expense of your retirement savings.

CPF contribution rates

For your planning, please note that the proportion of CPF contributions that goes into the Ordinary Account drops progressively from age 35. From that age, more of your CPF contributions go to your Special Account and Medisave Account in order to help you save for retirement and healthcare needs. Before you are 55, only the savings in your CPF Ordinary Account can be used for housing loan repayments.

More information on CPF

You can refer to the CPF Board website for more information about withdrawing your CPF when you turn 55.