Saturday 4 June 2011

401K Plan Loans

By Bill Boxer


Having a 401K Plan allows you to withdraw from your account without any penalty charges when you are at least 59 years old. However, circumstances may arise in your life necessitating a huge amount of money before the required age. You do have the option to make a 401K withdrawal, but there are certain conditions you have to meet before you could do so without incurring a large penalty. The penalty charge in most cases is at least 10% of your total account balance.

What might work better is a 401K loan. It is possible that your plan does not allow for this kind of loan, but this is offered in about 2/3 of all 401K plans. The highest limit for the loan may also vary for different plans.

A 401K loan is advantageous for many reasons. One of these is that you are borrowing from your own funds, hence any interest you pay for the loan also goes back to your account. Another advantage is that the interest rates on 401K plans are often much lower than any other available consumer loans. In addition, 401K loans do not require a credit check. Most often payments for the loan are done through salary deductions, making payment more or less guaranteed.

Additionally, you may also partly determine the length of time for the loan payback. 401K loans, legally, need to be paid in five years' time. If you stay in your present company over the succeeding five years, this would give you ample time to pay for your loan. You could even be given more time for home purchase loans. If you resign from your company before the five years are up, full payment for the loan has to be made in 60 days from your date of termination.

But if you wish to withdraw your 401K Plan because you are moving to another company, what may be beneficial is a 401K rollover.




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