SSS offers calamity, house repair loans in Odette-hit areas

The Social Security System (SSS) is set to start offering calamity assistance to members in areas hit by Typhoon Odette (international name: Rai) starting Friday, January 14, 2022.

In an advisory on Monday, the SSS said the Calamity Assistance Package will include a Calamity Loan Assistance Program where qualified members can avail of loans equivalent to one month of their salary credit, based on the average of their last 12 monthly salary credits.

The loan will be payable in equal monthly installments for 24 months or two years, with an interest rate of 10% per annum, with the 1% service fee waived.

The first amortization will begin in the second month after the loan is approved, and will be paid starting March 2022. The deadline is set every last day of the month following the applicable month.

The agency will also offer a Direct House Repair and/or Improvement Loan for qualified members with a maximum loanable amount of P1 million, with an 8% interest rate for loans P450,000 and below, and 9% for those above the threshold.

It will have a six-month moratorium for monthly amortization, and members will be required to start paying on the seventh month from the loan’s approval, in equal monthly installments.

The SSS will also offer a three-month advance pension for those in Odette-hit areas as declared by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

The package will be open until April 13, 2022 for members and pensioners in Mimaropa, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Northern Mindanao, and Caraga, along with other areas declared by the NDRRMC to be under state of calamity.

“It is unfortunate that the recent typhoon affected the daily lives and livelihood of our members and pensioners in these several areas,” SSS president and chief executive officer Aurora Ignacio said.

“Through the SSS Calamity Assistance Package, we can extend financial aid to our members and pensioners as they try to recover from the effects of Typhoon Odette,” she added.

The Visayas and Mindanao regions have been severely hit by Odette which entered the country in December. It left the Philippine Area of Responsibility  after causing “total devastation” in areas under its path.—LDF, GMA News