PETALING JAYA: Employees Provident Fund (EPF) members who have had their Account 2 wiped out following the special withdrawals will have to wait much longer before they are eligible to take out their savings to use for housing, medical expenses or studies.
This involves those who were forced to take their money out of Account 1 to top up what was left in the other account to make it RM10,000, or taking the whole amount from the first account.
Account 1 is for retirement savings, while money from Account 2 can be used for medical expenses, tertiary studies for self and children, and the purchase of homes.
Currently, 70% of the monthly contributions are placed in Account 1 and the rest in Account 2.
According to EPF, there is a “20% additional contribution” to the amount taken that will be placed in Account 1 from their monthly contributions.
“However, for those who had taken the special withdrawal of RM10,000, they will have all their monthly contributions go to Account 1.
“This will stop only after the RM10,000 plus the 20%, which will be RM2,000, goes back into Account 1. Only then will it be split into 70% and 30% again,” it said in its FAQ on the special withdrawal.
So, if one’s total monthly EPF contribution is RM500, all of it will go into Account 1 for two years (making a total of RM12,000), before the 30% is channelled back to Account 2.
Since this involves all special withdrawals, those who had also withdrawn in the past using this facility will have to wait much longer for this as their total withdrawals would have been much higher.
EPF said the rationale behind this move is to ensure they have enough after they retire by replenishing their Account 1.
“The 20% is based on the estimated loss of dividend of an average of 5% per annum, with the replenishment expected to take about four years,” it said.
This is to ensure their retirement savings are refortified and they enjoy the dividend pay-outs like the rest.
On April 15, EPF announced that it had received 5.3 million applications amounting to RM40.1 billion under the special withdrawal facility, just two weeks after opening for applications.
Payments commenced yesterday and applications for withdrawals under this scheme will close on April 30.
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