MOM's Response : Limited to Special Account

MOM's Response : Limited to Special Account
- Berita Harian, 04 April 2009

Ms Zaiton Tambee suggested in her letter, "Request use of Special Account to buy Housing Insurance" (BH, 1 April 2009), that CPF members be allowed to use their Special Account (SA) savings to pay for housing insurance.

2.   Like housing transactions, premiums for the Home Protection Scheme (HPS) should not be paid for by savings in the SA as this would adversely affect members' retirement adequacy. Rather, the member should make use of his Ordinary Account (OA) savings. With our rapidly ageing population, we should be very careful in allowing the use of SA savings for purposes other than meeting retirement needs.

3.   Members who do not have enough OA savings to pay the annual premium for HPS will be contacted by the CPF Board. These members may then apply to pay the premium by cash, top up their OA or use their spouses' OA if they are joint owners. This will help to ensure that members and their families remain protected under HPS and are insured against losing their homes, should the members pass away or become permanently incapacitated before their HDB housing loans are paid up.

4.   We thank Ms Zaiton for her feedback.

Request use of Special Account to buy Housing Insurance
- Berita Harian, 01 April 2009

Singaporeans agree that Special Account funds in CPF cannot be used for other purposes besides 'safe' investments. However, there are also investments that in the end bring about losses.

On the use of Special Account funds, I would like to suggest to the government to allow it to be used to pay for housing insurance. This insurance is important and acts as protection if there is a death in the family. This will reduce the burden on low wage and older workers who do not have much savings in their ordinary account. The economic downturn now requires the government to show more kindness for citizens who need it.