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Please Don't Rob Yourself to Buy a Home! Retirement Account Loans
With the changes in lending that have occurred recently there are some lenders out there who are farming their contacts encouraging people to buy homes and get the minimal down payments necessary by withdrawing money from their retirement accounts under the "hardship allowance" some retirement plans offer. When someone reccomends this they sell it as you're just, "borrowing from yourself" and you are paying back yourself with interest. It's great to be your own bank isn't it? Well maybe and maybe not...
From the IRS:
1. Under what circumstances can a participant get a hardship distribution from a retirement plan?
A retirement plan may, but is not required to, provide for hardship distributions. Many plans that provide for elective deferrals provide for hardship distributions. Thus, 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, and 457(b) plans may permit hardship distributions.
If a 401(k) plan provides for hardship distributions, it must provide the specific criteria used to make the determination of hardship. Thus, for example, a plan may provide that a distribution can be made only for medical or funeral expenses, but not for the purchase of a principal residence or for payment of tuition and education expenses. In determining the existence of a need and ... more

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