SSS loans to members to hit P17B this year

MANILA, Philippines - The Social Security System (SSS) said its loans to members may grow to at least P17 billion this year from P15.8 billion in 2011.

SSS said loans have increased 14 percent for the past five years and could thus grow to at least P17 billion by the end of the year as the agency steps up efforts to make its loan windows more accessible to members.

Last year, SSS was able to disburse loans to P1.06 million members, higher than 803,000 beneficiaries in 2010.

“The pension institution disbursed a total of P15.8 billion for members’ salary loans last year, 41 percent higher than the P11.17 billion it released in 2010 for over 803,000 member-borrowers,” SSS officer-in-charge Edgar Solilapsi said.

He said majority of the salary loan borrowers in 2011 were employees. Only nine percent if the P15.8 billion, or P1.47 billion, went to self-employed and voluntary members, including overseas Filipino workers.

According to SSS, the SSS salary loan is a privilege granted to active members with at least 36 monthly contributions, six of which must be within the 12-month period prior to the month of loan application.

The loans are payable in two years in 24 equal monthly installments with a 10 percent annual interest.

To reach out to more members, SSS offered a loan penalty condonation program where members are given the opportunity to pay their overdue obligations and have 50 to 100 percent of their accumulated penalties written off. The program opened last April 2 and will run until Sept. 30, 2012.

“We urge members with delinquent loans to take advantage of this opportunity before the program ends on Sept. 30. Otherwise, they will have to pay the full amount of penalties, and possibly have their total loan balance deducted from final benefit claims, which by then could balloon to the tens of thousands,” said Solilapsi.