6.10% net: this is the impressive rate that the People’s Savings Account (LEP) will reach on 1 February. 10 million French people are eligible without knowing it. Here’s how to check if this is your case.
A remuneration currently more than twice that of Livret A; secure savings available at all times; availability in the vast majority of French banking networks. Long hidden in the shadow of the Livret A, the Livret d’epargne populaire has attracted more and more savers since it was established as the anti-inflation savings product par excellence. Its rate is aligned, in fact, every 6 months with the rise in prices. A characteristic that will bring its yield to the record rate of 6.10% net from 1 February.
The Livret A rate climbed 3% on February 1, and the LEP did twice as well!
According to the Banque de France, more than 2 million people opened an LEP in 2022, 3 times more than the previous year. However, it is far from being full: the total number of accounts opened reaches 8.5 million, while 18 million French people are eligible.
Eligible? This is, in fact, another characteristic of LEP: it is reserved for households with moderate incomes. This eligibility is assessed on the basis of the reference tax income (RFR), which must be below certain thresholds.
2023 thresholds published
Do you want to know if you are one of the 10 million French people who have forgotten to open an LEP, despite the best savings account on the market? Nothing could be simpler: all you have to do is consult the tax notice that you received last summer, the one concerning your income for 2021. There appears, on the first page, your reference tax income. Then compare this amount, depending on the composition of your household and your place of residence, with the eligibility thresholds compiled in the table below. These have just been updated and will remain valid throughout 2023.
| Reference tax income ceiling for holding a LEP in 2023 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shares of family quotient | Metropolitan France | Martinique, Guadeloupe, La Runion | Guyana | Mayotte |
| First part | 21393 | 25314 | 26466 | 39665 |
| Surcharge for the first additional half share | + 5713 | + 6047 | + 7286 | + 10912 |
| Increase for the following additional half-shares | + 5712 | + 5712 | + 8557 | |
| Either for 2 tax shares (husband or PACS couple, single person with one child, single person with 2 children) | 32818 | 37073 | 39464 | 59134 |
Reminder: these income thresholds concern the entire tax household. Within the same eligible household, a maximum of two people can open an LEP.
On the other hand, access to LEP is closed to minors and young adults who have chosen to remain attached to the tax household of their parents. For them, however, there remains the Livret A, the rate of which will drop from 2% to 3% on February 1, or the Livret Jeune, until their 26th birthday.
LEP: all about this unbeatable investment which earns you twice as much as the Livret A