From November 1st, workers who signed up for the anniversary withdrawal from the Service Time Guarantee Fund (FGTS) will have limitations when it comes to anticipating the benefit at banks. The value and number of installments will be limited, as well as term restrictions and a grace period.
The decision was approved this Tuesday (7) by the Guarantee Fund Board of Trustees. According to the Minister of Labor and Employment, Luiz Marinho, who presides over the body, the change aims to prevent abuses against workers who take out loans to anticipate their birthday withdrawal, paying interest, and to ensure that the FGTS money goes directly to the worker, not to the financial system.
The main changes are the following:
Amount limits: the loan is now limited to between R$100 and R$500 per installment, with a maximum of five installments over the next 12 months, totaling R$2,500. From November 2026, the limit will be reduced to three installments of R$100 to R$500 for each birthday withdrawal. Until now, there was no value ceiling.
Frequency limit: the worker may contract only one advance operation per year. Under the previous rule, it was possible to carry out several credit operations annually, the so-called “simultaneous operations.”
Grace period: the worker will only be able to take out advance payments at financial institutions 90 days after joining the birthday withdrawal.
Current conditions
Until now, there were no restrictions regarding the deadline, grace period and amounts. Currently, advance payments for birthday withdrawals, according to the FGTS Board of Trustees, are carried out under the following market conditions:
Average value of R$1,300 per operation;
Average of eight advances per contract;
A total of 26% of workers anticipate their birthday withdrawal from banks on the same day of joining.
Reviews
According to the Minister of Labor, Luiz Marinho, the review of the rules aims to protect workers from excessive debt and guarantee the sustainability of the FGTS. For the government, the use of the balance as a guarantee for loans has led many Brazilians to vulnerable situations in cases of dismissal.
“The anniversary withdrawal has a side effect: it weakens the FGTS as an investment fund — whether in housing, sanitation or infrastructure — and harms workers, who often spend in advance without planning,” said Marinho. He went so far as to say that, “if it were up to his political will, the anniversary looting would have already been extinguished”.
Another point of concern for the government, highlighted the minister, is the inappropriate use of resources, such as spending on betting and gaming. online. “There are people taking R$100 from the FGTS to play on Tigrinho”, explained Marinho, in reference to betting apps popular among young people.
Resource redistribution
The government calculates that, by 2030, R$86 billion will no longer go to financial institutions and will remain directly with workers. The measure, according to the Ministry of Labor, represents a strategic redirection to strengthen Brazilians’ purchasing power and savings.
Currently, 21.5 million workers have joined the birthday withdrawal, equivalent to 51% of active accounts. Of these, around 70% have already carried out advance operations. These loans have generated between R$102 billion and R$236 billion since 2020, according to estimates by the FGTS Board of Trustees.
Created in 2019, the birthday withdrawal allows workers to annually withdraw part of the balance from their FGTS account in the month of their birthday. Membership is optional, but has an important consideration. Those who choose this modality lose the right to withdraw the total balance of the account in the event of unfair dismissal, maintaining only access to the 40% termination fine.
