Pag-IBIG grants 60-day grace period on loan payments, offers restructuring

The Home Development Mutual Fund or Pag-IBIG Fund on Friday announced it has granted a 60-day grace period on all loan payments, in accordance with the provisions of the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act.

Apart from a 60-day grace period, Pag-IBIG Fund is also offering a special loan restructuring program for home loan borrowers in an effort to provide its members financial relief amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We heed and support President Duterte’s call to help our fellow Filipinos who are experiencing financial hardships brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. We recognize that this pandemic continues to impact jobs and businesses in the country,” Housing Secretary Eduardo del Rosario said.

“And so the Board has immediately approved the implementation of the 60-day grace period following the signing of the Bayanihan 2 law and our Special Housing Loan Restructuring Program to provide further financial relief to our members,” del Rosario said.

The Housing chief chairs the Pag-IBIG Fund Board of Trustees.

Del Rosario added that under Pag-IBIG Fund’s guidelines, the granting of the 60-day grace period will be applied automatically to all loan payments on the agency’s Multi-Purpose Loan, Calamity Loan, and Housing Loan which fall due from September 15 until November 14, 2020.

The grace period will give borrowers payment reprieve without incurring any penalty, and interest on interest.

“Under the Bayanihan 2 law, the grace period covers loan accounts with up to 3 months in arrears. But under our approved Pag-IBIG guidelines, we will cover loan accounts with up to 9 months in arrears so we can help more borrowers, specifically those whose incomes were affected when community quarantines were first declared in mid-March,” the Housing chief said.

“And while the accrued interest is payable until December 31 under the Bayahihan 2, Pag-IBIG Fund will allow payment of accrued interest on a staggered basis during the remaining term of the loan, thus providing for an even longer and easier payment term for our borrowers,” del Rosario added.

The Special Housing Loan Restructuring Program, meanwhile, aims to further help Pag-IBIG Fund housing loan borrowers save their properties from foreclosure.

Under the program, borrowers whose finances have been affected by the pandemic may renegotiate the terms of the loan and secure a more affordable payment term.

Borrowers can soon apply for the restructuring program online by visiting the Virtual Pag-IBIG until December 15, 2020.

“Under Bayanihan 1, we granted a grace period to 4.77 million borrowers and approved nearly 300,000 applications under our three-month payment moratorium program. And now, this added grace period and our Special Housing Restructuring Program will help our member-borrowers – especially those who are currently experiencing financial difficulties – even more,” Pag-IBIG Fund CEO Acmad Rizaldy Moti said.

“But we also would like to encourage our borrowers who are capable of paying, to continue paying their loans. Better collections will allow us to keep offering loans at low interest rates to more members,” Moti added.—LDF, GMA News