More 401(k) participants take loans from their plan

The portion of 401(k) plan participants taking out loans offered by their employer’s plans grew to 2.7% in the second quarter, according to Bank of America’s quarterly Participant Pulse, which examines data from its record-keeping clients. That’s up from 2% in the first quarter.

The average loan was $9,311 vs. $9,140 last quarter.

The portion of participants taking hardship withdrawals edged up to 0.67% in the second quarter from 0.61% three months earlier. In the year-earlier quarter, 0.52% of participants took a hardship distribution.

The average hardship distribution was $5,067 in the latest period compared with $5,030 in the first quarter.