EPF members can submit online for education withdrawals

KUALA LUMPUR: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has expanded the e-Withdrawal facility to include education withdrawals.

The EPF said on Friday  members could submit their application online to withdraw from their EPF savings to finance their own or their children’s education fees at local higher learning institutions.

The provident fund said this was the second addition to the e-withdrawal facility after housing withdrawals.

From the initial RHB Bank, the other financial institutions which are part of the e-withdrawals are RHB Islamic, Maybank, Bank Islam, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC), Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN), Ambank and United Overseas Bank (UOB). 

EPF deputy CEO (operations) Datuk Mohd Naim Daruwish said the e-withdrawal was one of EPF’s breakthrough service to enable members with i-Akaun to submit their withdrawal applications anytime, anywhere.

He said the number of withdrawal applications, especially housing withdrawals, has been increaseing every quarter.  

“Hence we saw the need to simplify the process and reduce lead time for withdrawal applications, which led to the development and introduction of e-withdrawal,” Mohd Naim said.

The e-withdrawal facility, introduced in 2013, started with limited housing withdrawals. Under the newly enhanced e-Pengeluaran, members now are able to submit applications, subject to terms and conditions.

The EPF said the housing withdrawals are to reduce/redeem housing loan; repayment of housing loan monthly instalments and purchase or build a house.

As for education withdrawals, it said they were for funding of member’s or member’s children education fees, at participating local higher learning institutions. The withdrawals are also to repay outstanding balance for education loans taken from participating loan provider institutions.

From the first roll-out in 2013 until April 2016, a total of 64,297 applications for various types of withdrawals have been sent via e-withdrawal, where RM32.35mil have been  approved.

Mohd Naim encouraged members to use the online facility which was a more efficient alternative than to submit their housing or education withdrawal applications at EPF branches. 

There are 10 higher learning institutions being assessed for integration with e-Withdrawal and three institutions which have been confirmed are International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Multimedia University (MMU) and Perbadanan Tabung Pendidikan Tinggi Nasional (PTPTN).

“We are working towards having more institutions and banks participate in e-Pengeluaran in order for more members to experience the benefit of withdrawal at their fingertips from this online facility,” said Mohd Naim. 

Apart from the convenience of sending applications online, the e-Pengeluaran facility allows members to check the eligible amount for withdrawal for a particular scheme and facilitates the crediting of the approved amount directly into member’s or participating bank’s account.