As part of honoring the contributions of the Filipino worker last Labor Day, May 1, the Social Security System (SSS) said it has rolled out enhanced and expanded programs for its members.
These include enhancements to its loan programs: reduced interest rates for salary and calamity loans; expanded pension loan programs for surviving spouse pensioners; and a micro-credit loan facility through third-party providers.
“From the current interest rate of 10 percent, salary loan interest rate shall be reduced to 8 percent while calamity loan interest rate shall be reduced to 7 percent,” SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Robert Joseph De Claro said in a statement.
The reduced interest rate covers members who have no availment of penalty condonation in the past five years – in other words, for members who have good credit quality – and will increase cash proceeds from loan applications.
Target implementation of the reduced interest rates for these loan programs is July 2025.
Meanwhile, SSS is now looking to expand its Pension Loan Program (PLP) to include surviving spouse pensioners.
As of December 2024, there are 1.2-M surviving spouse pensioners.
“We acknowledge the need of other pensioners for access to a dependable loan facility, so we are expanding the PLP to surviving spouse pensioners,” De Claro said.
The maximum loanable amount shall be P150,000.00.
The PLP for surviving spouse pensioners shall also be covered by Credit Life Insurance with insurance premium to be deducted from the proceeds of the Pension Loan (PL) so that in the event of death of the PL borrower before full payment and end of the loan term, the PL balance shall be fully paid.
Target implementation of the expanded pension loan program, to include surviving spouse pensioners, is September 2025.
The SSS has also begun discussions with partner financial institutions on the feasibility of implementing a micro-credit loan facility for SSS members with tenor between 15 to 90 days.
“Currently, we are bringing the idea of a micro credit loan facility among our partner financial institutions through meetings and brainstorming sessions and see if we can address such short-term cash needs of our members. When we see a framework for this micro-credit program, we will implement as soon as possible,” De Claro also said.
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