If you opened a housing savings plan (PEL) in 2011, it will be closed during the year 2026. It is the effect of a law passed 15 years ago which had set a lifespan limited to this placement.
Be careful if you opened a PEL (housing savings plan) after March 1, 2011: the latter may disappear in 2026. Indeed, a reform of this placement dating from over 15 years ago will come into force. And train the fence of millions of PEL.
At the time in the 2011 finance bill voted in November 2010, the Minister of the Economy at the time had proposed to fix at 15 years the lifespan of a PEL. All those open from the entry into force of this law, that is to say on March 1, 2011, were going to be concerned. The PEL open before this date could remain without limit of duration.
And Pel’s openings in the months and years depending on this date, there have been many. In its latest report on regulated savings, the Banque de France notes “dynamism of the openings made in particular over the period 2013-2016, with a maximum of 1.5 million net openings in 2014”. Dynamism that could be explained by the rather attractive rate of this placement at the time: 2.5%. It should be noted that this rate is kept throughout the lifespan of the PEL.
3.2 million Pel fenced between 2026 and 2030
Thus, the PEL open between 2011 and 2015 represent 36% of the 9 million that we currently count. Some 3.2 million accounts. They will be successively closed between 2026 and 2030, each time 15 years after their opening.
This closure will be carried out automatically by your bank, without prior authorization from you. Your PEL money will be directly transferred to an ordinary booklet account, the remuneration of which will be much less advantageous than that of your old PEL. In general, this type of booklet only offers a very low rate, which can be 0.50% (Crédit Agricole), 0.30% (SG) or even 0.10% (BNP Paribas).
If you are concerned, you have every interest in anticipating the closure of your PEL: it would be stupid if the money on it, often important (the average outstanding of a PEL is 25,017 euros), is found on a lifeline so not very remunerative.
Prepare a real estate purchase or think about other investments
As of now, you can contact your bank to find out about the closing date for your placement. If you have a few years left, you delay: its rate fixed at 2.5% and its ceiling at 61,200 euros will be always more attractive than the booklet A currently, the rate of which has just dropped to 1.7%.
If you plan to make a real estate purchase, then you could use your loan rights before your PEL is closed. Indeed as a reminder, when subscribing to a PEL, we obtain an associated loan rate. However for those open until January 1, 2015, this rate was 4.20%. The borrowing rates offered by banks currently are often lower than that, it would not necessarily be so advantageous.
One of the best things to do is therefore probably to think about other savings solutions in order to transfer money from your PEL once it is closed. Fill in your booklet A, and an LDDS if it has not already been done. Or opt for life insurance, a long-term account, a equity savings plan …
