HOME OWNERSHIP SAVINGS PLAN

Any private individual (including minors, protected adults and non-residents) who does not currently hold a PEL can sign up for a PEL (or do so via their legal representative). Only one PEL may be opened per person.

Please note:
- You cannot open a PEL as a joint account
- You can hold both a CEL and a PEL at the same time as long as they are held by the same establishment. If you already hold a CEL in another bank, you can transfer it to International Offshore Bank of European Union.

he amount of interest paid for a PEL is guaranteed for the entire duration of the plan. The interest rate is 1%, in addition to a government premium of 1%. The maximum premium amount is €1,000, deposited upon obtaining a PEL Loan of at least €5,000 on your main residence. The government premium amount can be raised to €1,525 if you invest in a low-energy home or ecological amenities.

PEL interest is only subject to income tax after being held for 12 years. Capitalized interest is subject to social security contributions each year, either when the interest is applied to the account or upon the early conclusion of the plan.

The PEL limit is €61,200.

This limit can only be exceeded by the amount of interest paid in.

- Initial deposit: €225 minimum.
- Subsequent deposits: €540 minimum per year (mandatory).
These deposits must be made regularly (monthly, quarterly or biannually). Additional unscheduled deposits are also possible.

There is no minimum withdrawal on the PEL; any withdrawal will close the account.

With a CEL, on the other hand, you can make withdrawals at any time free of charge, as long as you maintain a minimum account balance of €300. If not, your account will be closed. You can make transfers into other International Offshore Bank of European Union accounts, as well as into third party accounts.

You can sign up for this fixed-term savings contract for a minimum of 4 years, which can be extended up to 10 years maximum. After 10 years, you may no longer make any deposits.

At this point, your PEL is maintained, accruing only bank interest and no longer generating new borrowing rights. 5 years after the contract's expiration, and in the absence of the withdrawal of funds either when you sign up for a loan or not, the PEL will become an ordinary Livret savings account. The subscriber will then lose all of the rights previously associated with the PEL.

The value date is the first day after the half-month following the deposit date (i.e., the 16th of the same month or the 1st of the following month).

Social security contributions

For private individuals with a fiscal residence in France, the interest accrued on the PEL is subject to social security contributions (CSG, CRDS, social security withholdings and CAPS). These will be deducted from the interest generated each year, either when the interest is applied to the account or upon early conclusion of the plan.
The home ownership savings government premium, as well as its increase for having dependents, is also subject to social security withholdings; however, these will only be deducted when the PEL is closed.

Income tax

PEL interest accrued over more than twelve years is subject to a progressive income tax scale.
In parallel, the Law also requires a 24% non-definitive advance payment, withheld at the source, on the amount of paid interest. Only taxpayers whose benchmark taxable income for the year N-2 (second-to-last tax notice) is less than €25,000 (for only one person) or €50,000 (for a couple) qualify for exemption from this advance payment (a penalty equal to 10% of the amount withheld is applied by the Tax Administration for any wrongful exemption request). This request must be made by the 30th of November of the year that precedes the year in which the income is received. The advance paid is deductible from the amount of income tax due for the year during which the income is earned.

You can close your PEL at any time.

Closing your PEL before 2 years

Two possibilities:
- Payment at the required CEL rate excluding social security contributions
- Convert your PEL into a CEL (to be opened or already opened) at the rate in effect on the conversion date: in this case, converting grants the CEL precedence over the PEL

Closing your PEL between 3 and 4 years

- Government premium reduced by half and limited to €762.50 (subject to the use of a PEL Loan)
- Mortgage loan possible, according to the bank interest accrued

Exiting the PEL after 4 years

Capital recovery: upon closing the PEL, you will recover all deposits made in addition to the accrued interest (subject to social security contribution deductions) and the government premium if applicable.

Loan requests must be made within the year following the closure of your PEL.

Extension: if you do not have any immediate real estate projects, you may extend your PEL for a period of less than one year. Your savings will develop under the same conditions (bank interest + government premium) while respecting the minimum annual €540 deposit commitment.

Maintenance: You may maintain your PEL after 4 years, after an extension period or after 10 years, subject to certain limits.

Please note:

The partial or total withdrawal of capital at any point during the duration of the PEL, including during extension and maintenance phases, shall close the plan.

You can transfer your PEL rights to a family member if they have also acquired the rights to your PEL loan (your spouse, ascendants, descendants, siblings, uncles, aunts, nieces and nephews or those of your spouse; the spouse of your siblings, ascendants and descendants, or those of your spouse).

Additionally, children from a prior marriage can also qualify for the transfer of rights acquired by the spouse of their married parent(s).

Please note:
Rights may be transferred only once to one member and may be used during the year following the closure of the PEL. The transfer must be regarded as a bequest and therefore requires a notarized deed.

The PEL may be taken over (capital, interest, premium and borrowing rights) by one of the heirs according to the will of the deceased or, in the absence of a will, with the agreement of all other heirs. Only in this case may a private individual hold several PELs.

You may bequest the entire PEL (capital, interest, premium, borrowing rights). Any bequest requires a notarized deed and may only be made to one of the people on the list of assignees mentioned above, on the condition that this person does not already hold a PEL.

Please note:
If the beneficiary of the bequest already holds a CEL, the PEL and CEL must be held in the same establishment.

You may transfer a PEL held in another banking establishment to International Offshore Bank of European Union while maintaining the characteristics of the transferred PEL (amount of time held, rate, etc.); subject to the agreement of the two banking establishments.

A PEL subscriber may at any point request to convert their plan into a CEL within the required CEL limit.
Interest is calculated at the CEL interest rate in effect on the conversion day. The PEL surplus will be reimbursed to the subscriber.

With PEL Insurance, your designated beneficiaries are guaranteed a lump-sum payment in the event of accidental death. This lump sum is equal to the amount you've saved in your PEL, with a minimum of €10,000 and a maximum of €20,000.

If, at the time of accidental death, you have €8,000 in your PEL, your close ones would receive €18,000: €10,000 paid under PEL Insurance and €8,000 from the savings already held in the PEL.