Recapping Important Rules and Regulations that Govern your NYCDCC Annuity Fund through Prudential

April 12, 2019

Loans– The Plan lets you borrow from your Account balance. To apply for a loan, you must be a participant and you may not already have three outstanding loans. More specifically:

• You are allowed to initiate two (2) loans in a plan year, not to exceed three (3) at one time,
• The interest rate at which you obtain your loan(s) are locked in for the duration of the loan(s),
• Payments are made quarterly via a coupon booklet or through automatic deductions from your bank account,
• If you default on your loan(s), you will receive a 1099 for the balance and any accrued interest,
• There is a five-year waiting period for obtaining a new loan when a prior loan is defaulted on:
  • The five-year waiting period begins from the date you default on your loan(s),
  • You MUST repay remaining balance and any accrued interest. Interest will continue to accrue until repaid,
  • Effective 3/1/19, there is one exception to this five-year prohibition against taking another loan following a default. If you default on a loan due to an underpayment on a loan repayment where the underpayment amount does not exceed $20.00, the Plan’s five-year post-default loan prohibition does not apply to you.

Hardship Withdrawals– If you incur an immediate and heavy financial need, you may make a hardship withdrawal from contributions made to your Account on or after July 1, 1992 (and earnings associated with those contributions), but only if the withdrawal is necessary to meet your financial need. A maximum of two hardship withdrawals may be made in any Plan Year (July 1 to June 30). Detailing further:

• There are several financial needs that may qualify you for a hardship withdrawal. You can learn these by contacting Prudential or by viewing your Annuity SPD on the Benefit Funds’ website at https://nyccbf.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/NYCDCC-Annuity-Fund-SPD-Bargained-Design-Final_-October-2017.pdf,
• Hardship withdrawals will no longer be available due to utility disconnection at your residence,
• If you are taking a hardship withdrawal to purchase a principal residence, the hardship withdrawal will only be distributed if the closing on your residence is scheduled within 30 days of the date of distribution of the hardship withdrawal. However, in the case of new construction, this 30-day limitation shall not apply,
• In the case of hardship withdrawals for the prevention of eviction or foreclosure, or for out-of-pocket medical expenses, payments will only be issued in the form of two-party checks.

Fraud– Obtaining a hardship withdrawal by way of fraud is a serious offense and can have severe ramifications. Please note:

• The Trustees and their designees have the sole discretion to specify the documentation required to determine whether you qualify for a hardship withdrawal,
• If you submit any documentation in support of a hardship withdrawal that is determined by the Trustees, or their designee, in their sole discretion, to likely be fraudulent, incorrect, inaccurate, or misleading in any way, you shall be permanently prohibited from ever taking a hardship withdrawal in the future,
• If it is determined in the sole discretion of the Trustees or their designee that you erroneously obtained a hardship withdrawal based on the submission of false documentation, you will be required to return the net amount of the overpayment (plus applicable earnings from the date of the distribution to the date the overpayment is returned) to the Fund,
• The creation of a false business record and the submission of such record to support a hardship withdrawal application is a crime that may result in referral to the District Attorney’s office.