<prompt> Human: Hello PF! My wife got a letter from her previous employer that she had a portable pension plan with them. She does not recall ever contributing to the pension before. All we know is there is currently a lump sum amount of 13,000 in the account and it is earning 1 interest compounded quarterly.We plan to buy a house in the next 12-18 months and this would be great as a down payment. Any ways to take the lump sum without paying huge fees and taxes?  <response>: We dont know the structure of the pension so we cant answer about penalties and fees. Raiding your retirement to buy a house is a bad idea in general. 