By Merlinda Hernando-Malipot
Employees of the Department of Education (DepEd) will benefit from the extended deadline in applying for Financial Assistance Loan (GFAL) of Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).
(MANILA BULLETIN)
GSIS Chairman and Acting President and General Manager (APGM) Rolando Ledesma Macasaet, in a statement, said that DepEd employees have more than six months to take advantage of the GFAL benefits.
“More than half of GSIS membership are DepEd personnel,” Macasaet said. “So they are given more time to take advantage of GFAL benefits until July 2020 instead of the earlier announced December 2019 deadline,” he added.
The GFAL is a program that enables GSIS members to consolidate and transfer to GSIS their outstanding loan balance from lending institutions that charge high interests. GFAL’s low interest and longer payment term yields higher take-home pay for members and protects their future retirement benefit.
Macasaet noted that GFAL is GSIS’ “response” to President Rodrigo Duterte’s call to put an end to high-interest money lending schemes that leave government workers cash-strapped and wedged deeper into debts. The loan facility was first offered to DepEd personnel on May 15, 2018, and subsequently opened to other government employees on July 29, 2019.
Under GFAL, the maximum loan amount is P500,000, with a six-percent interest rate per annum and six-year payment term through salary deduction. If the amount of loan balance transferred to GSIS is lower than P500,000, borrowers may apply for the remaining credit as Top-Up Loan for their other needs.
GSIS pays GFAL’s proceeds directly to lenders, while Top-Up loan proceeds are released to members. Interested GFAL applicants from DepEd must be permanent government employees with outstanding loan from lending institutions, government banks, or cooperatives accredited or recognized by their agency; have at least three years of periods with paid premiums; and have no due and demandable loan account with GSIS.
Moreover, interested applicants of DepEd must not be on leave without pay at the time of application; have a take-home pay of not lower than P5,000 after deduction of monthly obligations; and have no pending administrative case or criminal charges.
All GSIS offices are open every Saturday for GFAL transactions, including the conduct of a financial literacy seminar, which borrowers are required to attend prior to loan processing and approval. “We reiterate that the deadline for application for GFAL for the rest of GSIS members is also July 26, 2020,” Macasaet ended.