CalPERS update…

Using retirement money for housing comes up occasionally. CalPERS, which ended its housing program, had its "Secure Personal Loan Program," in which members were allowed to borrow some $18,000 against their retirement contributions for a down payment. Unfortunately there have been increasing delinquencies and defaults, CalPERS says. But we digress - the California Public Employees Retirement System, or CalPERS, is no longer offering mortgage loans to members - the program which was overseen by CitiGroup. The public pension fund said that due to "limited member usage" as well as increasing costs, its board of directors approved a suspension of its mortgage loan program, with current locks having three months to fund. The Member Home Program has been around almost 30 years, but in the last six has only done 1,000-4,500 loans per year which isn't much considering there are 1.6 million members and retirees.