A housing loan guarantee can be obtained from EPF in order to take a housing loan from the following lending institutions :

Bank of Ceylon

Peoples’ Bank

NSB Bank

SMIB

HDFC

Any branch of a Rural Co-operative Bank

National Housing and Development Bank

Housing Loan Guarantee Form - download here

The Loan will be granted for any one of the following purposes :

Construction or Completion of a house

Purchase of a house or Building site

Improvements or additions to an existing house

Redemption of a debt obtained from a recognized lending institution in connection with one or more of the above purposes

 Eligibility

Active members who are currently contributing to the Fund are eligible for a guarantee for 75% of the balance lying to their credit in one or more of their EPF accounts.

Inactive members who have not contributed to the Fund throughout the preceding year are eligible for a guarantee for 50% of the balance lying to their credit in one or more of their EPF accounts.

In the case of married members and members having children who are contributors to the Fund, a guarantee can be obtained by combining the balance of both accounts. In such cases, the amount available depends on the applicant’s own credit status.

Application Procedure

1.

A member should obtain 2 housing loan application forms from the nearest Labour Office or download from the website and send them back, duly filled, to the same Office.

2.

The Labour Department will check the Forms and forward same to the EPF Department.

3.

If the application is accepted, a certificate will be issued indicating the amount approved. This will be sent back to the Labour Department. The Labour Department will send the same to the Labour Office through which the application was sent.

4.

The loan can be obtained by producing the certificate to the preferred lending institute.

Note :

The application will be rejected if,

   The name in the application form differs from the name appearing in the C Form

   The applicant has already obtained a housing loan and it is not fully settled.

Loan Repayment

Repayment of the loan will depend on the terms and conditions agreed upon with the lending institute. The loan is considered settled only after the last installment is paid. After the payment is completed, the loan settlement form (form 14) should be obtained from the relevant labour office or downloaded from the website. This form should be sent to the Labour Department after it is duly certified by the lending institute. The Labour Department will then forward it to the EPF department for record updation.

Default Payments

If the member fails to pay the due installments, the lending institution will inform the Central Bank of the default amount. The amount will be debited from the EPF balance of the member concerned and paid to the lending institution.

Notice:
Members are not encouraged to default payment for the housing loan, as interest is deducted at the end of the year, thus cumulating the amount and the rate for default is much higher than the rate for the housing loan. (This default rate depends on the lending institution). This has lead to the eroding of the member’s balance available for retirement life.