Any adult or minor can open a CEL, paying the minimum amount required.

You cannot hold more than one CEL, otherwise you risk losing all interest earned and the right to benefit from the loan and the savings premium.

However, you can open both a CEL and a housing savings plan (PEL), provided that the two accounts are opened in the same banking institution.

Initial payment

The initial payment must be a minimum of €300.

Other payments

The amount of other payments is free, but with a minimum of€75.

There is no maximum payment amount, but no payment must exceed the CEL ceiling of €15,300

Methods of payment

You can pay your CEL by check, cash at the counter or by transfer from a demand account.

Since 1^er July 2023, you can make a transfer to your CEL from a demand account opened in a bank other than the one where the CEL is located.

Withdrawals

The amount of withdrawals is free, but subject to compliance with the minimum balance of €300.

If you make a withdrawal that lowers the CEL balance below the minimum balance, you risk closing the account.

CEL ceiling is €15,300.

This ceiling can be exceeded by adding interest to the amounts you have deposited.

The CEL interest rate is 2%.

The interest is calculated by fortnight, on the 1^er and the 16th of each month.

The sums remaining on the CEL of 1^er on the 15th of the month shall bear interest on the 16th of the month.

Amounts remaining on the LEC from the 16th to the last day of the month earn interest on the 1st^er of the following month.

CEL's interest is capitalizable: on 31 December of each year, it is added to the savings capital and becomes the producer of additional interest.

Interest from a CEL opened from 2018 onwards is subject to income tax and social security contributions.

When interest is paid, the banking institution must first make a single lump sum payment of 30%, which corresponds to income tax, up to 12.8%and social security contributions, up to 17.2%.

This one-time flat-rate levy is then taken into account when processing your tax return and calculating your final tax.

Without any action on your part, the single lump sum levy corresponds to the amount of your final tax.

But you can choose not to keep the flat rate of income tax and opt for the progressive scale. In this case, depending on your family situation, your income tax rate may be lower or higher than the flat-rate levy. You will then be able to pay additional taxes or, on the contrary, receive a refund from the administration.

The CEL opened after 2018 may allow you to obtain a real estate loan at a rate which is equal to the rate of return on deposits in the account plus a commission of 1.5%.

For CELs open from 1^er january 2023, the loan rate is 3.5%.

Loan saves housing can be used to do any of the following:

• Purchase of the main residence (new or old)
• Construction of the main residence (land purchase and construction work)
• Expansion, repair or improvement of the main residence (elevation, energy saving, facade renovation of a condominium building...)
• Acquisition of shares in residential civil real estate investment businesses (CREPS)
• Financing of premises for commercial or professional use which also includes the principal residence

To obtain the loan, your CEL must have been open for at least 18 months, and you must have acquired a minimum amount of interest.

This amount is €75, €37, or €22.5 depending on the purpose of the funding.

The maximum amount of CEL loan is €23,000.

If you also have a PEL, the maximum amount of CEL and PEL loans combined cannot exceed €92,000.

You can give in your loan entitlements to a member of your family, but provided that he or she has a CEL that has been open for at least 18 months.

Likewise, a family member can also to assign his rights to a loan, and you can combine them with yours to get a larger amount of borrowing.

The 18-month period can be reduced to 12 months when you use rights that have been given to you by the holder of a CEL that has been open for at least 18 months.

The same applies if you use rights from your ELP or rights from your co-borrowing spouse's ELP.

In the event of death, the savings accumulated on the CEL are transferred to the estate.

Your heirs can benefit from your right to the loan and your right to the savings premium, under the same conditions as you.

CELs open from 1^er January 2018 no longer qualify for the State premium.

Yes, you can transfer your CEL to another bank, unless you also hold a PEL in the establishment where you opened the CEL.

In this case, it is mandatory for the EL to remain in the same establishment as the ELP.

The closure of the CEL and the recovery of the money is not conditional.

The procedure varies from one bank to another.

If you wish to close your CEL, you must inform your bank and provide it with the details of a bank account into which the balance of the CEL can be paid.