If you are taking the maximum loan tenure for your home loan, you are looking at a life with debt for at least 25 to 30 years. Some people tend to be anxious about loans, and it can be an invisible weight on their shoulders. Having debt can also be depressing if you are suddenly made redundant or have a period of tight cash flow.
There are two steps needed to make your house fully yours: redeeming the loan and discharging the loan. In simple terms, redeeming a loan means to repay the full amount of the loan. Discharging a loan means to get back the title of the property in your name.
Discharging a loan happens after you have fully paid off the loan (redeemed the loan). A lawyer is usually needed to discharge the mortgage at the SLA.
You can make a full payment on your housing loan and be debt-free. Read on for the full step-by-step and breakdown of the amount you have to pay if you decide to make a full payment of your housing loan.
Step-by-step instructions
In Singapore, there is no difference to the payment steps, whether you are staying in HDB or private property. Rather, the difference comes in from who you borrow the money from. Most people have either a loan with HDB – meaning you borrowed from HDB, or a loan with the bank.
Once you have decided to pay off your housing loan, this is what you need to do, depending on who you loaned your money from.
Full payment for housing loan from HDB (HDB loans ONLY)
For an HDB housing loan, you can submit your loan redemption request via e-Service. By submitting the loan redemption request, you are informing HDB of your intention to pay off your HDB housing loan.
General flow
You can log in to the HDB e-Service via Singpass and go to “Other Related Services > Make Full Repayment of Housing Loan”. Fill in the request form to make a full redemption of your HDB housing loan.
The proposed date for loan redemption would be scheduled one month from the date HDB receives your request, which can take up to 3 working days. This means that you have to be prepared to pay off the amount by the proposed date. When you submit the request, HDB will calculate the amount – both the full redemption amount and the fees – that you have to pay.
Redemption amount calculation
As a rough estimate, the full redemption amount will include the principal amount due and an additional one month’s worth of interest (as the loan redemption date is scheduled for one month later).
Fees calculation
There is a registration fee and conveyancing charges that you need to pay to “discharge” the loan from HDB.
The registration fee is paid to Singapore Land Authority to lodge the discharge of the HDB mortgage loan. The registration fee is $38.30.
The conveyancing charge is paid to HDB if you appoint HDB for the legal services in the discharge of the HDB mortgage loan. Below are the fees (including GST). If you engage a private solicitor, the conveyancing charge is not payable. You will need to pay a separate legal fee to your solicitor of choice.
Make payment via various methods
You should have received an email confirmation that HDB has received your request for making a full payment of your mortgage loan. You can now prepare the payment.
You can pay via CPF, GIRO, PayNow, eNETS, and AXS. No special arrangement is needed if you choose to pay via CPF. HDB will liaise with CPF on the payment deduction.
Pay via CPF
If you are paying via CPF, there is no additional administrative effort from you to contact CPF to make deduction arrangements. However, it is recommended that you check with CPF prior to your full loan payment application, on the amount that you can use in the Ordinary Account (OA) to pay off the mortgage loan.
In particular, these are something you need to take note of –
- You MUST be the flat owner in order to use CPF savings.
- For resale or DBSS, the maximum Ordinary Account (OA) in CPF you can use is up to the lower of the purchase price or the valuation price of your flat at the point of purchase
- If there is still an outstanding loan, you need to set aside a basic retirement sum (BRS) before your OA can be used.
Full payment for housing loan from banks
If you have borrowed from a bank, you need to defer to each individual’s bank for their requirements and steps. Check your Letter of Offer (LO) for the most accurate fees and lock-in period.
Lock-in period and cash rewards
Note that for mortgage loans from a bank, you have to be careful about the lock-in period and potential cash rewards. Banks generally “punish” people who want to pay off their loans early, as this means they are losing out on potential interest income.
If you are still within the lock-in period, and you want to make full payment, you may need to pay a penalty fee of usually 0.5 to 2.5% of the loan amount. You can check with your bank or the Letter of Offer (LO) for the lock-in period and the penalty involved.
Sometimes, when the bank is running a promotion, you may also receive cash reward to encourage you to borrow from them. If you choose to make a full payment, you may no longer fulfil their promotion criteria, and the bank may request a clawback for the cash reward. Again, check with the bank if you need to return the reward.
Ideally, it is recommended that you do not have any lock-in period before you make a full payment for a bank housing loan. However, there are times when you need to sell your house and redeem the loan before the locked-in period is up. You would need to ensure you have sufficient funds to cover the penalty fee as well.
General flow
In most cases, this is how making a full payment for the mortgage loan to the bank works.
You need to submit an application for full redemption of the mortgage loan to the lending bank. The prepayment date is usually set 2 months from the day you submit your application.
You will then need to appoint a lawyer or law firm to represent you to discharge the mortgage. Once the process is completed, the title deed of the property will be returned to you. Note that the legal fees will be borne by yourself.
Redemption amount calculation
No further deduction is made once you request to make a full payment on your mortgage loan. You would be expected to pay the principal amount, and an additional 2 months of interest (as the loan redemption date is slated for 2 months later).
If you are still within the locked-in period, you may be required to pay a penalty fee, per stated in your Letter of Offer (LO). If you have received any cash reward during your loan, it would be clawed back if you no longer fulfil their promotional criteria.
Pay via CPF
If you are paying via CPF, you need to ensure this is properly communicated with the lending bank. Thereafter, you need to submit your intention via a form to CPF Board, alongside a copy of the bank’s redemption statement and a copy of your lawyer’s legal bill (if any) in the application.
Before the submission, it is recommended that you check with CPF prior to your full loan payment application on the amount that you can use in the Ordinary Account (OA) to pay off the mortgage loan. You can do so by logging in to CPF Home Ownership Dashboard.
The application will then be processed within 5 working days.
On the deduction date, CPF will then transfer the funds to the bank, completing the payment.
Last Steps
Once you have made full redemption of the housing loan, and the lawyers have processed the discharge of the housing loan, the title deed of the house will be returned to you. This means that you have full ownership of the property.
Congratulations!
Last Updated: 24 Sep 2025
