Getting a Temporary Loan from your IRA
If you find yourself in a very difficult financial bind, you can potentially borrow money from your IRA as a short term (less than 60 days) loan. There isn’t an official way to borrow against your IRA, but the laws governing IRAs say that you can transfer money between IRAs. When you make such a transfer, you have 60 days from the time you withdraw it from one before you are required to deposit it in the new IRA.
If you take the money out of one IRA, you can use it during this 60 day period as long as it goes back into another IRA before the end of the period. In effect this gives you a 60 day interest free loan.
If you are unable to pay the IRA back you risk paying penalties to the government, so you need to make sure you understand the fine details of the law before attempting this. Also make sure you understand the timing of your deposits. Sometimes money desposited doesn’t actually show up for a few days. This is especially true if you are sending a check through the mail.
This technique works, but it isn’t really recommended unless you have no other options.