State-run Social Security System (SSS) has started the refund of the loan payments collected at the height of the pandemic two years ago.
In a statement, Aurora C. Ignacio, SSS president and chief executive officer, said on Friday, Feb. 11, that the pension fund will refund P105 million worth of pension loan payments to 25,231 borrowers.
The pension loan payment refund is based on Circular No. 2022-002 in compliance with the provisions of Republic Act No. 11494 or the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act.
Under the law, banks, quasi-banks, financing companies, lending companies, and other financing institutions were directed to give a 30-day grace period for borrowers’ loan payments without incurring any interest on interest, penalties, fees, and other charges.
The provision covered loan payments with dues that fall within Sept. 15 to Dec. 31, 2020.
“We understand the predicament faced by our PLP borrowers which is why they opted to file their loans to SSS to further finance their medical and immediate financial concerns brought about by the current pandemic,” Ignacio said.
Ignacio added that PLP offers financial assistance to retiree pensioners for their short-term needs and the refund of their pension loan payments will greatly help them cope with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eligible SSS retiree pensioners are those who are currently amortizing as of the implementation date and those who started their monthly amortization in October 2020. They will receive loan payment refunds for their loan payments in October and November 2020.
For pensioners who started their monthly amortization in November 2020, they will get a refund for their loan payments in November and December 2020 while those who only started paying their loan amortizations in December 2020 will only get a one-month refund for December 2020.
“We advise our pensioners that they no longer have to visit SSS to apply for the said refund,” Igancio clarified.
“Like the refund of the April and May 2020 loan payments last December 9 and 10, 2021 under Bayanihan 1, these pension loan payment refunds will automatically be credited to qualified pensioners through their respective SSS UMID-ATM card or Union Bank QuickCard savings accounts where they already received the proceeds,” she added.
In addition, SSS would also extend the pensioner’s loan payment term by one or two months without any additional interest or penalty.