401k withdrawls to pay your Mortgage? Know the facts.

WASHINGTON — With hundreds of thousands of homeowners facing imminent foreclosure and estimates of 2 million or more in the wings, are there any financial tools available to distressed borrowers that haven't been tried yet? Equally important politically: Is there a way to help owners that won't rack up huge federal expenditures and add to the deficit?

Weitz - this is disgusting and I’ll tell you why: Did you know your 401k is entirely protected from creditors and in Bankruptcy? So your politicians (who probably are getting some rather large contributions from banks) are working to allow you to empty your fully protected retirement account so you can pay that money in the form of interest to a Bank for a loan that is likely more than what your property is worth.

Why don’t they simply tell you to go burn that money over a camp fire as that is essentially what you are doing if your property does not appreciate in the near future.

Anyone who is considering taking out money from a retirement account to pay their mortgage should seriously consider the pros/ cons of such a decision prior to acting. The reality is that there are many other options available if you can’t afford your mortgage that are worth exploring prior to liquidating your retirement account(s).

The Obama administration has been exploring options — including a new refinancing program expected later this month — but a concept has surfaced on Capitol Hill that might offer modest help with no revenue cost to the government: Amend the tax code to allow homeowners who have 401(k) retirement plans to pull out money to save their houses from foreclosure without the usual tax penalties.

The change would work like this: Under current rules, anyone making what's known as a "hardship" early withdrawal of funds from their 401(k) must pay the IRS a 10 percent penalty on top of ordinary income taxes. A new bill introduced Oct. 5 would waive the penalty if the purpose of the distribution is to make loan payments to avoid loss of a primary home to foreclosure.

Co-authored by Sen. Johnny Isakson and Rep. Tom Graves, both Republicans from Georgia, the bill would allow owners to pull out up to $50,000. The money could be used in a lump sum to pay down the delinquent mortgage balance or to fill shortfalls caused by reductions of household income. It could also be used as part of loan-modification agreements with lenders designed to avert a foreclosure. However the money is used to resolve the mortgage delinquency, it would need to be spent within 120 days of receipt and could not exceed 50 percent of the current amount of funds in the retirement account.

Owners would still be subject to income taxes on the amounts withdrawn, but would escape the penalty. Though neither of the co-sponsors claims the bill would actually raise revenues — they simply say it wouldn't cost the government anything — some pension-program experts say it might. Edward Ferrigno, vice president for Washington affairs at the Plan

Sponsor Council of America, a group that represents employers who offer workers 401(k)
accounts, said that by triggering taxable distributions from otherwise untouched, tax-deferred plans, the bill "should generate revenues." Ferrigno declined to comment on the bill overall, pending further review of its provisions.

Weitz – so let me get this straight – you take out your fully protected retirement money, you write and check to the bank so they don’t have to ‘write down’ the loss on the mortgage, and then you write a check to the IRS for the right to do it. Don’t do it, folks!

Titled the HOME Act, the proposal sheds light on the potential foreclosure-avoidance resources — and the drawbacks — connected with tapping employee pension accounts. Many, but not all, 401(k) plans allow for loans to participants, including for housing-related purposes. Retirement advisers generally recommend taking a loan from a plan because the money withdrawn is not taxed or penalized. Borrowers are required to pay interest on the loan, but in effect they are paying it to themselves to offset the earnings forgone on the balances taken out.

Many 401(k) plans also provide for "hardship" withdrawals. However, these come with much stricter rules, fewer eligible uses, plus the tax penalties. The Internal Revenue Code limits hardship distributions to situations where there is an immediate and urgent financial need, and there are no other funds available to meet this need. On top of that, the rules require that taxpayers must opt first for a loan from the retirement plan — if permitted — before pursuing a hardship withdrawal.

Though avoiding foreclosure is one of the permitted hardship uses under the code, the 10 percent penalty discourages potential users, Isakson and Graves argue. Their bill would remove that disincentive and provide an emergency escape hatch for owners sliding fast toward foreclosure.

Putting aside the potential positives, are there downsides to making a hardship withdrawal from your 401(k), even penalty-free? You bet. Pulling out 401(k) dollars early — with or without a tax penalty — is still an expensive way to raise money. Not only does it deplete the tax-deferred savings you've set aside, but in the case of hardship withdrawals, you are prohibited by IRS rules from making new contributions to your plan for six months.

Weitz – AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, THIS MONEY IS FULLY PROTECTED FROM CREDITORS!!
Even if the HOME bill makes it through Congress — and there's no assurance it will — taking the hardship route should never be your first choice. It should be your last resort, when there's nothing else that will save your house and you don't want to walk away.

However, also consider the pension plan alternative that may already be buried away in your plan documents: a save-the-house loan to yourself. If the numbers work, and you have a reasonable chance of avoiding foreclosure and repaying the loan, check it out.

It just might be your solution.

For more information on your rights in Foreclosure or Bankruptcy, consider contacting a Seattle Foreclosure Attorney or a Seattle Bankruptcy Attorney.

Our Firm:
Weitz Law Firm, PLLC
520 Kirkland Way, Ste 103
Kirkland, WA 98033

425 889-9300