401k loan for real estate.

[Josh Atchison]

I am going to take a loan of $25,000 out of my 401k for a house hack. My wife’s student loan is an income based repayment plan. As I pay my 401k loan back, will this in anyway help lower the loan payment?

[George Blower]

Originally posted by @Josh Atchison:

I am going to take a loan of $25,000 out of my 401k for a house hack. My wife’s student loan is an income based repayment plan. As I pay my 401k loan back, will this in anyway help lower the loan payment?

1) You can only borrow from your 401k if the plan allows you to do so - so check with the plan administrator.

2) If the 401k plan is through your former employer, you won't be able to take a loan. However, in that case and if you are self-employed with no full-time w2 employees working for you, you could set up a Solo 401k with a provider that allows for 401k participant loans, rollover the funds and then take a loan from the Solo 401k.

3) Here are the general considerations regarding 401k loans.

401k Participant Loans

• If your 401k plan allows for 401k participant loans, the maximum loan amount is equal to 50% of the balance up to $50k. The repayment terms for a 401k participant loan are equal monthly/quarterly payments of principal and interest (typically prime plus 1%) over a 5 year term (longer if used to acquire your principal residence).
• Please note that if you take a full $50,000 and then pay back the loan, you can't take another $50,000 until 12 months after the first loan was fully paid back.
• Per the loan offset rules that went into effect with the 2018 Tax and Job Act: if you leave your job and the loan is current at the time you leave your job but then the loan goes into default because you left your job, you will have until your tax return deadline (including any timely filed extension) to make the loan current by depositing the outstanding balance into an IRA (and thereby avoid the taxes and penalties that would otherwise apply).

4) The loan must be paid back in equal payments so making pre-payments won't lower the monthly payment but will shorten the term.