Home Savings Account (CEL)

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 the interest earned and the right to benefit from the loan and savings premium.

On the other hand, you can open both a CEL and a housing savings plan (PEL), provided that the two accounts are opened in the same bank.

The CEL deposit limit is €15,300.

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

The CEL interest rate is 1.00%.

Interest is calculated fortnightly, on 1^er and the 16th of every month.

The sums remaining on the CEL of 1^er on the 15th of the month, interest is earned on the 16th of the month.

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

The CEL's interests can be capitalized: on December 31 of each year, they are added to the savings capital and become producers of additional interest.

Interest from a CEL opened from 2018 is subject to income tax and social levies.

When paying interest, the bank applies a single flat-rate levy (PFU) at the rate of 30%, which corresponds to the income tax deducted at source at the flat rate of 12.8%and social security contributions for an overall rate of 17.2%.

The following year, it is your tax return that will allow the tax authorities to calculate your final tax.

Your pre-filled declaration will apply as a matter of principle the single flat-rate 30% all your income from movable capital, including your interests of the CEL.

But you can opt for the application of the progressive scale of income tax. This option to replace the flat-rate levy of 12.8% by the progressive scale of income tax is irrevocable and applies to all your movable income.

In this case, all your income from movable capital will be taxed according to the composition of your tax household and according to your overall income.

Your income tax rate may be lower or higher than the flat rate of 12.8% . You will then be able to pay a tax supplement or, on the contrary, receive a refund from the administration.

The rate of social security contributions will always be 17.2% .

The CEL opened after 2018 can allow you to get a home loan at a rate that is equal to the rate of return on deposits in the account plus a commission of 1.5%.

For CELs open from 1^er february 2025, the loan rate is 2.50%.

Home Savings Loans may be used to perform any of the following:

• Purchase of your main residence (new or old)
• Construction of the main residence (purchase of land and construction work)
• Work to extend your main residence (for example, elevation)
• Thermal insulation work your main residence (installation of shutters, double glazing or double windows; insulation of walls, floors or ceilings under roof and facade walls; installation of joints or appliances on air vents or openings)
• Heating Improvement Works of your principal residence (installation of thermostatic taps; replacement of boilers or renewal of burners; insulation of the installation; equipment allowing measurement, regulation of heating and better distribution of costs between users of a collective heating according to the consumption of each)
• Work to make use of new technologies or energy sources in your main residence (installations using solar energy, including solar water heaters, appliances allowing the use of wood, waste or thermal discharges from other installations, digesters and gas generators, geothermal heating and connection to a heat network, heat pump type techniques, etc.)
• Financing of premises for commercial or professional use which also includes your primary residence.

The real estate concerned may be located in metropolitan France or in a Dom.

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 of €23,000.

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

You can give in your loan entitlements a member of your family, but only if they have held a CEL that has been open for at least 18 months.

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

The 18-month period may 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 the ELP of your co-borrower spouse.

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 entitles to the State bonus.

Yes, you can transfer your CEL to another bank, unless you also have an ELP in the institution where you opened the CEL.

In this case, the CEL must remain in the same establishment as the PEL.

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

The procedure varies from one bank to another and the closing fees at your initiative are set in the pricing conditions of your bank.

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

In the event of the death of the owner of the home savings account, the account in the name of the deceased is fenced, but heirs can benefit from a transfer of acquired rights on this CEL.

The capital entered in the account and the premium and loan rights attached thereto shall be transferred to the heirs. If they wish, they can be assigned to all or some of the heirs, according to their agreement in the context of the inheritance division.

When the bank is informed of the death of the owner of the home savings account, it must close the account. But the capital and the loan and premium rights attached to it can be divided and distributed among the different heirs if they wish.

Since November 13, 2025, the law provides for 3 cases of gratuitousness for transactions related to the succession. In other cases, inheritance fees are now capped in all banks for deposit and booklet accounts.

The bank may charge you fees for the steps it takes in the context of the succession (inventory of funds, transfer of money to heirs,...).

The amount of the fee is capped at 1% the total balance of the deceased's accounts and savings products. This amount may not exceed €857.