Fakoyejo OlalekanThe National Pension Commission (PenCom) has approved guidelines that help Retirement Savings Account (RSA) holders to access their RSA balance for mortgage payment.
PenCom made this known on Friday, stating that Retirement Savings Account holders would have access to 25% of the total mandatory RSA balance as at the date of application.
In the statement released, the pension regulator said irrespective of the value of equity contribution required by the mortgage lender, only 25% will be provide, except the RSA holders may utilise the contingency portion of their voluntary contributions (if any).
It approved the guidelines in line with Section 89 (2) of the Pension Reform Act 2014 (PRA 2014), giving salary earners and self-employed person access to the provision.
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Requirement to access the provision
- Have an Offer Letter for the property duly signed by the property owner and verified by the Mortgage Lender.
- The RSA of the applicant shall have both employer and employee’s mandatory contributions for a cumulative minimum period of 60 months (five years).
- A Contributor under the Micro Pension Plan (MPP) is also eligible, provided he/she has made contributions for at least 60 months (five years) prior to the date of his/her application.
- RSA Holders that have less than three years to retirement are not eligible.
- Married couples, who are RSA holders, are eligible to make a joint application, subject to individually satisfying the eligibility requirements.
- RSA holders, if registered before 1 July 2019, must have their records updated through the RSA data recapture exercise.
- Application for equity contribution for residential mortgage shall be in person and not by proxy.
PenCom further stated that, “To qualify as a Mortgage Lender for this purpose, the company must be licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), comply with the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) and have valid Pension Clearance Certificate (PCC). The Commission shall publish names of the eligible mortgage lenders on its website.”
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