SSS collects over P5 billion in overdue credit payments

STATE-RUN Social Security System (SSS) said it accumulated over P5 billion in overdue credit payments through its one-year payment scheme and is seeking to gain around P9 billion in the next five years.

SSS also reported that over 850,000 of its members have availed themselves of its Loan Restructuring Program (LRP), in which the firm collected a total of P13.83 billion for the one-year period the program was offered.

“We are very much overwhelmed with the huge volume of applicants especially during the last few days before the deadline. We hope that they are more persistent in paying their monthly obligations so they could avail of the condonation of penalties as soon as they have paid in full their outstanding loan. We are expecting P8.6 billion in collection until the end of the five-year installment term,” SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel F. Dooc was quoted saying in a statement e-mailed to reporters on Friday.

The bulk of the LRP applications were employee-members, with contributions amounting to P3.23 billion while voluntary members comprised 27%, with initial payment of P1.38 billion.

Meanwhile, 39,000 self-employed SSS members yielded an equivalent collection of P194.37 million and over 46,000 overseas Filipino workers had a total remittance of P412.76 million.

The payment scheme was rolled out last April 28. This aimed at giving delinquent member-borrowers an opportunity to regaining their standing before the SSS and enjoy SSS benefits in the future, like renewing their loans six months after they have fully paid their overdue principal and interest under the LRP.

Borrowers could settle their unpaid SSS loans via flexible payment terms of up to five years, with interest rates of as low as 3% annually.

Meanwhile, those who have availed themselves of the program could also pay in full their overdue loans within 30 days with no additional interest or through installment basis of up to five years with an interest rate of 3% yearly.

“We would like to remind our LRP availees that loan penalties will be completely waived after full payment of total loan principal and interest under the restructured loan. So they are advised to pay their financial obligations on time to prevent an additional penalty of 0.5% per month,” Mr. Dooc said.

The LRP covers short-term SSS loan programs including the Salary Loan, Salary Loan Early Renewal Program (SLERP), Emergency Loan, Calamity Loan, Voc-Tech Loan, Y2K Loan, Investments Incentive Loan, Study Now Pay Later Plan, and the previously offered Educational Loan, which is different from the ongoing Educational Assistance (Educ-Assist) Loan Program.

Excluded from the program are Stock Investment, Privatization Fund, and Educ-Assist loans.

By end-April, the state-run pension fund’s total revenue collection reached P52.18 billion, a 9.6% uptick from the P47.59 billion recorded in the comparable period a year ago.

source:  Businessworld