Here's are a few things that might delay EPF advance withdrawal process

To provide relief to people facing a cash crunch due to the COVID-19 lockdown, the government had announced in March-end that Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) subscribers can withdraw up to 75 per cent of the outstanding balance
in their PF accounts or three months basic plus dearness allowance, whichever is lower.

As per the data released by EPF Organisation on 28 April, 740,000 such claims have been settled. However, a lot of other subscribers have taken to social media to complain that they are still waiting for their advance.

Further, the EPFO has also said that employees who have left the job can avail of the advance. Employees can apply for the advance under such claims online.

Here are some of the reasons leading to delay or claim rejection:

Mismatch in Aadhaar details and EPF account

If there is a mismatch in your basic details like name, date of birth, and gender as mentioned in your UAN and Aadhaar, you can not link your Aadhaar with your UAN through the eKYC portal. So before linking, please ensure basic details are the same in both UAN and Aadhaar.

Bank Delay

Typically, EPFO processes claims and issues the cheques to the bank within three days working days of applying the claim. Banks, typically, take another one to three days to credit the money to the employee’s account. But, as the banks are working with limited staff these days, there might be a probable delay from the bank's end.

Wrong details and document related delay

Details such as IFSC code of the bank or the account number mentioned during the claim may not match what is seeded with the UAN. So, a subscriber should update account details such as the number and IFSC with the EPFO.

While an employee makes a claim for advance online, he is required to submit a scanned copy of the checkbook, the first page of the passbook, or the bank account statement. Sometimes the documents uploaded might not be clear, thus leads to a delay in the processing of your advance amount. 

Not fulfilling the criteria

To be able to claim the non-refundable advance, employees should have made a contribution for at least three months. So, if you are not eligible and still make a claim, then your application might be rejected. 

Should you withdraw?

The corpus is meant for the period when one retires and there is no regular income. Hence, it is not supposed to be withdrawn before its maturity as this could jeopardise one's retirement plans. But, if you are in desperate need of cash in such trying times then withdrawing from your EPF corpus is certainly a better option than opting for a personal loan.