general purpose and a primary residence loan (an employee cannot have two primary residence loans). The minimum loan amount is $1,000 and the maximum is $50,000, but the employee must have sufficient assets in the account to take out a loan. The minimum term is one year; the maximum term is five years for the general purpose loan and 15 years for the residence loan. There is a $50 processing fee per loan which is taken out of the loan proceeds. If the employee or service member is married the spouse (even if separated) must consent to the loan. Loans must be repaid via payroll deduction (though an employee may also make additional repayments outside this process) and the interest rate charged (which is fixed for the life of the loan) is the G Fund return rate at the time the application is processed. After repayment an employee must wait 60 days before applying for another loan of the same type. If the employee separates from federal service before the loan is paid, the employee must repay the loan balance within 90 days or it will be reported as taxable income. In addition, any overdue amount not repaid by the end of the following calendar quarter is also reported as taxable income. In-service withdrawals Employees may make either an "age-based" withdrawal or a "financial hardship" withdrawal. The minimum withdrawal amount is $1,000 (or the account balance, if smaller). For married FERS employees and uniformed service members the spouse must consent to the withdrawal; for married CSRS employees the spouse need only be notified. Any funds withdrawn cannot be repaid to the TSP, and subject the employee to both taxes (including penalties if the employee is under age ) and loss of potential future earnings. Also, if an employee has multiple TSP accounts, s/he can withdraw from any related to active employment (civilian or "Ready Reserve") but cannot withdraw from an inactive one (e.g. former military service). An employee must be over age to request an "age-based" withdrawal, and need not specify any reason for doing so. Employees may make up to four such withdrawals per calendar year, but no sooner than every 30 days between them. A "financial hardship" withdrawal can only be made once every six months, and is limited to one of five specific needs: negative monthly cash flow, medical expenses (including household improvements needed for medical care),