The French PEL home savings plan in 2026: rate, ceiling, 15-year closure and old plans

• Rate fixed at opening: 2% gross for a PEL opened since 1 January 2026, 1.40% net, whatever happens to rates later.
• €61,200 ceiling on payments, €225 at opening and at least €540 a year, for ten years at most.
• Closure at fifteen years for plans opened since 1 March 2011: the first ones become ordinary savings accounts in 2026.
• No partial withdrawals: taking money out means closing the plan, with a penalty before four years.

The PEL was long one of France's favorite savings products: nearly one person in four held one in 2016. Only 11.8% did at the end of 2025, according to the Banque de France's annual report on regulated savings (in French), with 8.2 million plans and €205 billion, down almost 10% in a year. Just under 800,000 PELs were opened in 2025, against 1.3 million in 2024. The 2% rate of 2026 and the wave of automatic closures raise the same question for many savers in France: open, keep or close.

This guide explains how the PEL works, its rates by opening year, its tax, the fifteen-year closure, what to do with a ten-year-old PEL, the closing rules, the home savings loan, and how it compares with the Livret A and life insurance. The rules quoted come from service-public.fr (in French) and the Banque de France, with their dates.

How a PEL works

Anyone can open a PEL, with no age, income or nationality condition, but only one: you cannot hold two at the same time. Each member of a household, children included, can have their own. The plan is opened at a bank that offers home savings products, with a first payment of at least €225.

You then have to pay in at least €540 a year, monthly (€45), quarterly (€135) or every six months (€270), or the plan may be closed. Payments are capped at €61,200; interest can take the balance above that. A PEL lasts at least four years, and can then be extended year by year up to ten years. After ten years, no more payments are allowed, but the money keeps earning interest. Interest is calculated per fortnight and added to the plan every 31 December.

A PEL has no partial withdrawals: taking money out, whatever the amount, means closing the plan. It can, however, be moved to another bank while keeping its age, its rate and its loan rights, if the receiving bank agrees.

PEL rates in 2026, and by opening year

A PEL's rate is the one in force on the day it was opened, and it never changes: that is what sets it apart from French savings passbooks, whose rate changes twice a year. A PEL opened since 1 January 2026 pays 2% gross, and the loan it gives access to will be at 3.20%. A PEL opened in 2016 keeps its 1%, even if rates rise.

Even older plans pay more, for example 3.27% for those opened from June 2000 to July 2003, according to service-public.fr.

How the rate is set, and the 2027 rate

Since an order of 27 January 2021 (in French), the rate of new PELs follows a formula based on market rates: 70% of the five-year swap rate, plus 30% of the gap between the ten-year and two-year swap rates, rounded up to the next quarter point, and never below 1%. The Banque de France calculates it by 5 December at the latest, from the November average, and the new rate is published in the Official Journal if it changes. As of 8 November 2026, the rate for PELs opened in 2027 is therefore not yet known. A PEL opened in December 2026 keeps 2% for life; one opened in January 2027 will take the new rate, higher or lower.

PEL ceiling and payments: what to remember

The €61,200 ceiling applies to payments, not to the balance: a full PEL keeps growing with its interest. The compulsory payments are small, €540 a year, but they are compulsory: a PEL that does not receive them can be closed by the bank. Extra payments are allowed on top, up to the ceiling, for ten years at most. There is no income ceiling, unlike the LEP.

PEL tax: 1.40% net for a plan opened in 2026

For a PEL opened since 1 January 2018, interest is subject every year to France's 30% flat tax: 12.8% income tax and 17.2% social charges, withheld by the bank. A PEL at 2% therefore pays 1.40% net: €140 a year on €10,000. In 2026 the PEL escaped the rise in social charges to 18.6% that hit other investments: it stays at 17.2%.

PELs opened before 2018 keep an advantage: their interest is exempt from income tax for twelve years and only pays the 17.2% social charges. A PEL at 2.5% then pays 2.07% net. From the thirteenth year, its interest becomes taxable: it pays 1.75% net. No PEL opened since 2018 qualifies for the state bonus (prime d'État), which existed for older plans on condition of taking out the loan.

PEL closures in 2026: the fifteen-year rule

PELs opened since 1 March 2011 cannot live longer than fifteen years. On their fifteenth anniversary, they are automatically turned into an ordinary savings account, whose rate the bank sets freely and whose interest is taxed at 30%. The first ones, opened in March 2011, switched over from March 2026: that is what “PEL closures in 2026” refers to. It will carry on every year, generation after generation.

It affects a lot of people. According to the Banque de France, plans opened since March 2011 numbered 5.4 million at the end of 2025, holding €121 billion: three quarters of all PELs and 62% of the money in them. Interest already earned is not lost, and loan rights can still be used for a year after closure. What changes is the rate: the contract rate stops, and the ordinary account's rate is often much lower.

PELs opened before 1 March 2011 are not affected. They have no maximum duration: after ten years they take no more payments, but keep earning their original rate, with no time limit.

A ten-year-old PEL: what to do?

At ten years, a PEL takes no more payments. It keeps earning its rate for five more years if it was opened since March 2011, and with no limit if it is older. There are three options, and the right one depends mostly on its rate.

1. Keep it, if its net rate stays above the passbooks'. A 2003 to 2015 PEL at 2.5% pays 1.75% net after twelve years, a little more than the Livret A at 1.70%; a 2000 to 2003 plan at 3.27%, 2.29% net. These rates are guaranteed, whereas the Livret A's can fall.
2. Use the loan, if buying or renovating a main home is coming up. The loan rate has been known since opening: 2.20% for a plan opened between August 2016 and 2022, when a twenty-year mortgage cost 3.87% on average in 2025, according to the Banque de France.
3. Close it, if its net rate is below the passbooks'. A 2018 to 2022 PEL at 1% only pays 0.70% net: the same money earns 1.70% tax-free in a Livret A or an LDDS.

The loan from an old PEL is often modest. The loan's interest cannot exceed 2.5 times the interest earned by the plan: a PEL that earned €1,000 gives access to a loan whose interest cannot exceed €2,500, or about €21,750 borrowed at 2.20% over ten years. It tops up a mortgage; it rarely replaces one.

Closing a PEL: what you lose, depending on its age

Closing a PEL only takes a request to the bank, and the money is paid into your current account. What you lose depends on the plan's age:

After four years, closing therefore costs nothing, except giving up a guaranteed rate. A closed PEL can be replaced by a new one at the current rate, since the rule is one at a time.

The home savings loan

After four years, a PEL gives access to a home loan whose rate is known from opening, according to service-public.fr (in French). For plans opened since 2018, it only finances a main home: purchase, construction, extension or energy-saving work. It runs from 2 to 15 years, up to €92,000, combining the PEL and a CEL at the same bank. A close relative whose PEL has matured can transfer their loan rights, which lets them add up.

Its real value depends on market rates. In 2025, five- to ten-year-old PELs gave access to loans between 2.2% and 3.2%, while mortgages cost 3.87% on average over twenty years. But the amount stays limited by the interest earned, and the bank cannot lend above France's usury rate.

PEL, Livret A or life insurance?

The PEL compares above all with risk-free savings. In November 2026, it pays less net than the Livret A, the LDDS and the LEP, but its rate is guaranteed for the plan's whole life, while the passbooks' rate is reviewed every six months. The euro fund of a French life insurance policy pays more on average, with no rate guarantee from one year to the next.

With inflation at 3.4% over a year in October 2026 according to Insee, none of these products fully protects purchasing power. The PEL keeps two strengths: a rate that does not fall, and a loan at a known rate for anyone planning a purchase. Its two weaknesses: the money is locked, and its 30% tax puts it behind the tax-free passbooks. The French savings accounts comparison compares every account net of tax. The guides to the LDDS and the LEP cover those two passbooks, and the one on French life insurance tax the tax on a euro fund.

Making good use of a PEL

1. Know your rate: it is on the contract or the annual statements, and it decides almost everything else.
2. Note the opening date: it tells you whether the plan closes at fifteen years, whether it pays income tax and which loan it gives access to.
3. Compare net figures: 2% gross taxed at 30% pays less than 1.70% tax-free.
4. Do not miss the €540 annual payment during the savings phase, or the plan may be closed.

The guide on where to put your money in France places the PEL among the other accounts, and the compound interest calculator shows what regular payments grow into at a given rate. Tradoshi's portfolio tracking accepts your PEL as a declared holding, alongside your other accounts.

This guide is educational and is not personal investment advice. The rates and rules quoted are those in force in November 2026; the rate for PELs opened in 2027 will be published in December 2026.

Frequently asked questions