How To Adjust Your CPF Payment For Your Housing Loan

January 29, 2023

The Central Provident Fund (CPF) is a compulsory saving scheme that helps you to support your housing and retirement needs.

As a Singaporean, you will have to contribute your income to the CPF every month.

But what if you are buying a home? If you are planning to purchase a property in Singapore, you should know how to adjust CPF payment for housing loan.

Find out how to adjust CPF for payment for housing loan in this article, and exactly when you should do so at different stages of your life.

How Does CPF Work?

While most Singaporeans actively contribute to their CPF accounts every month, some may not know exactly how they work.

In a nutshell, CPF works as a savings account you can use to repay your mortgage loan. CPF has four accounts, and every account has its particular role:

Ordinary Account (OA)
Special Account (SA)
MediSave
Retirement Account (RA) – only applicable when you turn 55

The OA is most commonly used to pay CPF mortgages. Some are unaware that the funds used or borrowed from their OA have to be repaid – and not only the principal amount, but the accrued interest as well.

So if you want to pay a HDB loan using CPF, keep that in mind.

How Do I Use My CPF For Paying My Monthly Installment?

Before using your CPF savings, make sure that you’ve informed your lawyer that you intend to use these funds in your home loan application. Note that you will have to bear the legal fees and bank processing fees.

Once you’ve completed these procedures, you can now follow the steps below to use your CPF to pay monthly installments:

Step 1: Visit the CPF website and log in with your Singpass

Step 2: Select “My Request”

Step 3: Select “Property” and go to “Use CPF for my Property”

Step 4: Select Property details

Step 5: Select “Revise Monthly Installment”

Step 6: Update the Monthly Installment amount and effective date

Step 7: Submit your request

How To Adjust CPF Payment For Housing Loan

Most Singaporeans use their OAs to make monthly CPF deductions for home loans.

That said, you can pay, adjust, and stop your OA savings for monthly housing installments. You can also use your OA savings to make full or partial capital repayment.

Also, if you’ve purchased a HDB flat with a HDB loan, you can approach HDB to begin and adjust your OA use and make your loan repayment.

But what if you need to know how to adjust CPF payment for housing loan at some point?

To know how to adjust CPF payment for housing loan, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Log in to your CPF personal page

Step 2: Go to the Homeownership page

Step 3: Follow the on-screen prompts

Step 4: Confirm your changes and submit

It would be good to print or save a copy of your transactions for your records.

Why You Should Make Changes To Your CPF Housing Payments

Now that you know how to adjust CPF payment for housing loan, you may be wondering why you might need to do this – and when exactly you should do so.

Here are a few scenarios when you may need to do so.

When You Turn 35

Once you reach 35 years of age, the section of your CPF contributions that go into your OA is reduced in favour of your MediSave and SA.

As a result, you may notice that your OA contributions are inadequate to cover your home loan repayments fully.

In this case, you can reduce your CPF deductions and make up for the shortfall in cash. If you don’t do so, you may get charged late or overdue fees on your mortgage.

You Want To Set Aside More Savings For Retirement

Once you are 55 years old, your SA and OA are combined to form the RA. These funds are used to contribute to the national unity scheme called CPF LIFE, which gives you a monthly payout for the rest of your life during retirement.

The more money you have in your RA, the higher the CPF LIFE payouts. As a result, you may want to reduce the amount of CPF funds removed from your OA in order to have more money to retire more comfortably.

Your CPF OA Has Run Out Of Funds

If your CPF OA has been depleted, you will have no choice but to pay for your housing loan in cash – if you want to continue owning your property.
So if you expect this to happen, you might make the change on your own instead of waiting to be removed from the system.

Legal Representation For CPF And Housing Loans

As mentioned earlier, you’ll need to appoint a legal firm to represent you before using your CPF funds to pay for your property.
Your appointed attorney has to apply to the CPF Board to request the use of your CPF funds. This process is called conveyancing. It is not free and requires you to pay legal fees.

It is a smart move to shop around and compare the rates to understand how much conveyancing fees you’ll incur.

If you’re purchasing a HDB unit, you may opt for HDB to represent you via its panel of appointed legal firms. You also have the option of appointing your own attorney.

Otherwise, if you are buying a private residential property, you have to get your own conveyancing attorney – preferably before you submit the mortgage application.

Other Points To Note About CPF And Housing Loans

You Can Make Partial Repayments, Or Adjust Your Loan Tenure

The amount you pay monthly for your mortgage is not set in stone. You can change the amount of your housing loan installments using various methods, including adjusting your loan tenure.

You will lower your monthly installment by extending it, while shortening it will raise the amount. Another way is to make lump-sum partial repayments towards your mortgage. This reduces the amount outstanding in the home loan, which will allow you to:

Reduce the monthly installment while maintaining the original loan tenure
Shorten the overall loan tenure while maintaining the installment amount

If you are unsure of which option works best for your situation, approach either HDB or your bank for more information before you proceed.

You Can Utilise Your CPF Funds to Pay For Private Property And HDB

You can use your CPF funds to pay for a residential property – whether it’s a private property or a HDB flat.

However, you cannot use a HDB loan to buy a private residence. HDB loans are only for those who are purchasing an HDB flat.

For private properties, you must get a mortgage from an authorised financial institution or a bank, after which your HDB monthly installment will be decided.

Be Clear About How To Adjust CPF Payment For Housing Loan

After reading our guide, you should have a better idea of how to adjust CPF payment for housing loan.

So if you’re looking to purchase your first home or buy another, GS Credit has got you covered.

We are a trusted licensed money lender in Singapore that offers some of the most affordable interest rates and fees. We would be more than happy to help you in any way we can.