Livret A and LDDS are secure, tax-free savings accounts offering the same interest rate (2.40% in 2025) and full capital liquidity. While Livret A has a higher ceiling (€22,950 vs. €12,000), LDDS supports sustainable development projects. The best strategy? Combine both to maximize your secure savings. Once full, diversify with tools like life insurance for higher returns—or opt for impactful investments like carbon quotas with Homaio to give your savings a climate-positive role. These accounts are a solid start, but not the end of your financial journey.
You are in France and are hesitating between a Livret A and an LDDS to invest your savings? Wondering which one is best suited to your situation in 2025, which offers the best return, the highest ceiling, or more meaning for your money? These two savings products, pillars of French wealth, are very similar but hide key differences that can guide your choice. Let's dive into this comparison to help you see more clearly and make the best decision for your portfolio.
The Livret A and the Livret de Développement Durable et Solidaire (LDDS) are what we call "regulated savings accounts." These are typically French financial products, whose characteristics (rate, ceiling, operation) are set by the authorities. Their popularity is undisputed: more than four out of five French people own a Livret A, often complemented by an LDDS. Their success rests on a common base of powerful advantages that make them the foundation of any sound financial management.
Their main strength lies in security and liquidity. The money you deposit is guaranteed by the State. Practically, even in case of your bank's bankruptcy, the State commits to reimbursing your entire funds, up to the ceiling, within a very short time. Moreover, your savings remain accessible at any time, with no fees or penalties in case of withdrawal. This is why they are unanimously recommended to constitute and house your emergency savings: this essential safety cushion to face unexpected events (car breakdown, health expense, etc.) without having to dip into your long-term investments.
In terms of remuneration, they are twins. Following the European Central Bank's actions to control inflation, the rate of these accounts, which had reached 3% in 2023, has been adjusted. For 2025, the interest rate is set at 2.40% net. This "net" is crucial: the interest you earn is totally exempt from income tax and social contributions. It is a considerable tax advantage compared to most other investments. Finally, the interest is calculated according to the "fortnight rule": it is calculated on the 1st and 16th of each month. A deposit made on the 5th of the month, therefore, will only start generating interest starting on the 16th.
If their fundamental advantages are identical, important distinctions exist that will determine which one to open first, or how to combine them. The choice will mainly depend on your personal situation, the amount you want to save, and the purpose you wish to give your money.
The most obvious difference is the maximum amount you can deposit. The Livret A offers an almost two times higher ceiling than the LDDS, at €22,950 for an individual. The LDDS, meanwhile, is capped at €12,000. This distinction is fundamental: if you have a significant saving capacity, the Livret A will allow you to shelter a larger sum.
However, you should not see these two accounts as competitors but as allies. You have every right (and it is even recommended) to hold both a Livret A AND an LDDS. By combining them, you can thus secure and grow without risk and without tax up to €34,950 (€22,950 + €12,000) for a single person, and double for a couple.
The Livret A is the most universal savings product. Created in 1818, it is accessible to anyone residing in France, from birth. Parents or grandparents can very easily open a Livret A in the name of their children or grandchildren to start building them a first nest egg.
The LDDS, formerly known as "Codévi" then "LDD", is more restrictive. It is reserved for adults with their fiscal residence in France. An exception exists for minors, but it is very specific: they must have personal income and no longer be attached to their parents’ tax household, a rare situation.
This is a more symbolic difference, but important for savers concerned about how their money is used. The sums collected on Livret A accounts are mostly centralized by the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations and primarily serve to finance the construction and renovation of social housing.
The LDDS, as its name suggests, has a mission oriented toward sustainable development and the solidarity economy. The funds collected finance energy transition projects, support French Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), and contribute to the development of Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) enterprises. Choosing the LDDS thus earmarks part of your savings for projects with environmental and social impact.
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The Livret A and the LDDS are exceptional tools for security and liquidity. But they have a major limitation: their yield. A rate of 2.40% is appreciated for a risk-free investment, but it often struggles to keep pace with inflation. When the cost of living rises by 3% or 4% in a year, your money placed at 2.40% mechanically loses purchasing power. Your capital is secured, but its real value decreases.
Once your regulated accounts are full, it is therefore essential to turn to other solutions to diversify your assets, aim for higher returns, and give true momentum to your projects.
Life insurance is often presented as the "Swiss army knife" of savings. It is a tax-advantaged envelope that allows you to invest in different supports. You can hold euro funds within it, whose capital is guaranteed (similar to a savings account), but also unit-linked funds (stocks, bonds, real estate...) which offer a higher return potential, at the risk of capital loss. After 8 years of holding, life insurance offers very favorable taxation on withdrawals, making it an excellent tool to prepare medium- or long-term projects (retirement, property purchase, inheritance).
The LDDS allows you to support sustainable causes, but its impact remains indirect and diluted. What if you could go further? What if you could combine financial performance with direct contribution to the fight against climate change?
This is precisely our mission. We have created an investment platform to make accessible to all a powerful asset previously reserved for experts: carbon quotas. The principle is simple: by buying carbon quotas on regulated markets, you withdraw them from circulation. Each quota purchased corresponds to one ton of CO2 that polluting industries will no longer be able to emit. It is a direct and measurable decarbonization act.
At Homaio, we turn this commitment into a real financial investment. We allow you to:
Our approach is educational and reassuring. We believe finance must be a lever for positive change. That is why we are keen to give you the keys to understand where your money goes and what impact it generates. If the Livret A and LDDS are the foundations of your financial security, innovative investments like those we offer are the bearing walls of your wealth tomorrow, and that of the planet.
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The Livret A and LDDS are two excellent, complementary, and essential products for your short-term savings. The first, with its higher ceiling, is to be privileged when starting. The second comes as support, adding a solidarity dimension to your savings. But to build solid wealth aligned with today’s challenges, it is crucial to look beyond. Solutions such as life insurance for diversification and impact platforms like Homaio for performance and meaning open new horizons.
In 2025, the Livret A and the LDDS offer exactly the same interest rate: 2.40% net. There is therefore no difference in yield between the two. This rate is set by the State and may be revised twice a year based on inflation and interbank rates.
Yes, absolutely. It is not only possible but highly recommended to hold both. This allows you to benefit from a total secured and tax-exempt savings ceiling of €34,950 (€22,950 on the Livret A + €12,000 on the LDDS).
The deposit ceiling for the Livret A is €22,950 for an individual. That of the LDDS is €12,000. Note that the interest capitalized each year can raise the balance of your accounts above these ceilings.
No. This is one of their greatest advantages. The interests generated by these two accounts are fully exempt from income tax and social contributions (CSG-CRDS). The 2.40% rate is a "net net" rate.
Banks are obliged to use funds collected on LDDS accounts to grant loans to French SMEs, as well as to finance projects related to energy transition (energy-saving works for individuals) and actors in the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE).
Once the ceilings of the Livret A and the LDDS are reached, your emergency savings are constituted. It is time to diversify for better returns. You can turn to life insurance for its long-term tax advantages, or explore investments that give more meaning to your money. If you want your capital to actively contribute to decarbonization while aiming for performance, investment solutions in carbon quotas, like those proposed by Homaio, represent a promising path.
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