If your pension contributions have been consistently remitted, you are entitled to know how long it will take to withdraw money from your Retirement Savings Account (RSA).
In this blog post, we will enlighten you.
First, let's clarify what an RSA means.
What is a Retirement Savings Account (RSA)?
A Retirement Savings Account (RSA) is managed by a Pension Fund Administrator (PFA). It is typically opened by a person who is in gainful employment.
The RSA serves as the account where his or her pension contributions deducted from his or her monthly emoluments (which include basic salary, housing and transportation allowances) are remitted. It is the duty of the PFA to invest and manage the funds remitted in the RSA on behalf of the employee who is also known as the RSA holder.
Now that we've shed light on what an RSA is, we will explain how long it usually takes to withdraw from your RSA.
But before we jump right into that, let's also clarify a few more things.
The standard age to withdraw money from your RSA is 50
According to the National Pension Commission (PenCom), you can only withdraw from your RSA when you retire at the age of 50.
What are the exceptions to this?
However, the following situations can also permit you to withdraw from your RSA before the age of 50.
If you are out of employment and unable to secure new employment within a period of four months.
If you retire before 50 due to a medical condition.
If you've made additional voluntary contributions.
How long will it take to withdraw from your RSA?
When you decide to withdraw money from your RSA, the period of processing your payment depends on the type of your withdrawal.
Also, initiating a withdrawal from your RSA means that you've sorted out the following:
Remittance
Documentation
Data Recapture Exercise
Apart from the type of your withdrawal, another important factor affecting how long you'll have to wait before payment is PenCom's turnaround time.
Let's look at the types of withdrawals from RSA and their processing period.
There are different types of withdrawal and some have a longer processing time than others.
Withdrawals that have a shorter processing time include:
Micro pension contingent withdrawal
READ ALSO: What a Micro-pension plan can do for you
Voluntary Contribution withdrawal
25% withdrawal
En bloc withdrawal
Withdrawals that have a longer processing time include:
Lump sum and programmed withdrawal
Annuity withdrawal
Withdrawal on health grounds
Death benefits
Missing person withdrawal
By law, it is the duty of the National Pension Commission (PenCom) to approve all requests for withdrawals from PFAs.
By law, it is the duty of the National Pension Commission (PenCom) to approve all requests for withdrawals from PFAs.
It is also the PFA's duty to send all withdrawal requests to PenCom for approval. The PFA is also responsible for the follow-up with PenCom for authorisation of all withdrawal requests.
The PFA is also responsible for providing the RSA holder with an estimate of how long it will take for PenCom to approve the withdrawal requests based on your type of withdrawal and PenCom's turnaround time for past approvals.
However, it is not the place of the PFA to state specifically how long it will take to withdraw from your RSA.
However, it is not the place of the PFA to state specifically how long it will take to withdraw from your RSA.
To know more about how long it will take for your withdrawal request to be approved by PenCom, contact us on our customer care line at 07002255625.
You can also email Oak Pensions at customercare@oakpensions.com or info@oakpensions.com.